Harry Young
by ankithallaiva
Summary: Harry Potter, the average kid of the potter family, will take on the evil side alone in order to protect his family. Rune-master Harry. Underdog Harry. AU. Alive James. Alive Lily. H/Hr.
1. Beginnings

There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.

A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.

Being young is such a pain in the ass.

Wait. No…

Being _younger_ is such a pain in the ass.

Younger than whom you might ask? Well… Everyone.

Everyone. Everyone who is older than you seems to assume you are a chimp who needs help peeling bananas. It is like a universal law that as soon as you are revealed to be younger you are assumed to be more stupid.

Let me give you the context.

I am Harry James Potter, younger brother to Daniel James Potter, the boy-who-lived. I am currently in my 4th year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a year behind my elder brother who is in his 5th year along with his best friends Ron Weasley and Sophia Granger, _the golden trio._

My parents James and Lily Potter are rather accomplished individuals in their respective field of work. My mother , Lily Potter, is a healer at St. Mungos while my father, James Potter, is an auror.

I also have a twin sister who is also in her 4th year at Hogwarts, Rosaline Potter. I am younger than her by 25 minutes.

We are a happy family of five, our parents love us, we love each other, my sister is cute, my brother is an ass, the normal family dynamics.

The problem is everybody thinks I'm stupid.

NO, REALLY!

They expect great things from Daniel, they believe in him to be a great wizard and are willing to let him, and by association his friends, become members of the order of the phoenix. They believe he is essential to stop the 2nd uprising of Voldemort and are asking him for help. And you know what? I get it. I totally get it. Hell I believe in my brother too.

Rosaline, although extremely reluctantly, was also made a part of the order of phoenix. Why? Because she is a very gifted empath. She is like a walking mind reading, lie detecting machine. She is _extremely_ useful to the order.

So am I jealous that I don't get to be a part of the order? A little bit, maybe. But the primary reason for my frustration is that everybody thinks I'm too immature and stupid to handle anything. My parents even told me once that it is okay to be mediocre; they still love me very much.

All right, I get the fact that I'm average. I get it that I'm not qualified enough to be a member of the order. I get the fact that I'm naïve. I know I'm a little weird myself. But why don't they understand that I care. I worry so much for all of their safety. With the return of Voldemort things have become so much more complicated and dangerous for our family.

I am a quiet kind of guy. I don't have a charming personality like my brother nor a sweet aura like my sister. I am generally shy to express in words the affection I hold for my family, unlike the rest of them , but deep within I love them all too much. My emotions generally don't rise to the surface and people assume I'm a laid back, lazy kind of person. The truth is that my emotions shimmer and bubble deep within me and get deeper and deeper as I keep them in. The thought of Voldemort even touching a hair of any my family members, generates such intense anger within me that my dorm caught fire in a burst of accidental magic during my current year.

Accidental magic in 4th year! It's almost ridiculous. Thankfully nobody could trace the fire back to me, I really did not want to answer to Mom on how it happened. Mom's scary. Really scary.

That is why I have decided to form a group of my own, _The Shadow Phoenix._ The Shadow Phoenix is the name for the group of fighters who are going to fight this war from the shadows, undetected ,untraceable but _effective_. Right Now it consists of me, my owl Hedwig and Neville's toad Trevor.

Ugh.

I know it doesn't sound too good, but hey you've got to start somewhere. Today is the first meeting for our clu-, eh I mean _secret association._

 _Secret Association._ Yup. That sounds cool.

Today is also October 31st, Halloween or All Hallows eve. It's a magically powerful day, which will hopefully bring good luck to my endeavours. I have decided to hold the first meeting just behind the owlery, considering it is easily accessible to the 2nd member.

That is why Hedwig and I are sitting and waiting for our third member to show up. I informed Trevor of the meeting place last night when he was hopping in the common room. He croaked at me twice. That meant a yes. Smart Toad. Hedwig is … eh… smarter of course. Can the bloody bird read my mind?

Did she just nod?

Did she just nod again?

OH, just fucking stop with the nodding already. This is like getting a mind trip with an endless loop, which will never end unless interrupted… OH there's Trevor.

Now we can finally begin.

"Ehhm-Ehhm" you're supposed to clear your throat right? "I, Harry James Potter, call in session the first meeting of the shadow phoenix." I applaud politely as that seems to be the correct proceeding for a cool _secret association_. Hedwig and Trevor hoot and croak in accordance with the polite shit.

I settle myself on the biggest rock around and cross my legs placing my hand on my knees.

Yeah _, I've got style._

"Now let us begin. The first order for the meeting is raised by Trevor." I pull out a parchment and quill from my bag. "Trevor here notes the importance of a theme song for the SP." Calling it the shadow phoenix all the time takes the charm out of it. "Trevor came to me with a weird sisters' poster sticking to him and I approved of his intentions, though I would prefer a muggle band."

"All those in favour of a theme song by the weird sisters." I keep silent, and so does Hedwig. Trevor voices his vote,

"croak."

"Well now, all those in favour of a theme song by a muggle band." Hedwig raises one of her wings and so do I, raise my hand that is.

"Therefore by a majority vote this jury had decided to adopt a theme song by a muggle band. Please come with your suggestions in the next session."

Hedwig flew over to me and dropped an old newspaper cutting on my lap, it was not as much cut as it was torn to remove the useless info by Hedwig, but the message was loud and clear.

 **HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED**

 **THE DARK LORD'S NAME JINXED! SNATCHERS WREAK HAVOC!**

Hedwig had shown it to me a few weeks prior. It was an old cutting from the first war; it was the birth of the famous title of he-who-must-not-be-named. It was survival that had created it, and after the war it was fear that preserved it. I read up on the article, explaining the details of the jinx. The jinx may have originated from a curse, created by Voldemort himself. It triggered when the name 'Voldemort' was spoken and alerted the snatchers of their location.  
As far as I can remember from snooping at an order meeting, the curse was soon removed after its discovery and was only remembered by a few select individuals afterwards. The new use of Voldemort's title instead of his name was accepted by the public as a sign of his dangerousness and their fear propelled them to not stop.

The people in the order now don't think that the taboo or the curse will be reinstated so they urge the people to not fear using Voldemort's name anymore. I have seen Daniel correct a number of individuals upon this. I myself use his name, but don't bother correcting others. It's just too awkward and way too much effort to give a speech about fear of a name.

Anyways, this jinx certainly caught my interest. This was the second piece of magic that I knew about that had a 'universal radius'.

Universal radius is a term I have coined for a piece of magic that can affect every individual in existence. For example, the first is the Fidelius charm. The fidelius when applied makes every individual forget about the existence of the place or object put under the fidelius, except the secret keeper. The object or place under the fidelius cannot be traced by any means until its secret is revealed by the secret keeper. Similarly this jinx on Voldemort's name reveals the location of the person who spoke the name even under average protection wards. The fidelius may trump this jinx and would not be broken, even if the name were to be spoken multiple times when in a place protected by the fidelius.

Therefore I have put these two magic under the title of pieces of magic with a 'universal radius'. Which brings me to the second order of the meeting,

"The second order of the meeting is brought forward by Hedwig, who notes the importance of research on the topic of 'Universal Radius'." I shift in my seat a little, rocks can be uncomfortable that way. "All those in favour…"

"Hoot" Hedwig raises a wing.

"Croak" Trevor agrees too.

I raise my hand as well. Then I bring it down to note down the votes in the parchment. "The motion passes with a full house. Everybody should bring their research in the next session."

That brings the meeting to the final point, " Now, the third and the final order for the meeting is brought by Harry, that is me." I take a customary bow. " I believe that we should each start practicing and developing what we are going to call our area of expertise." This is what I believe is necessary for the base of our organization.

Skill.

We have to have a skill which would hold our back in the direst of circumstances.

All jokes aside, I have created this organization with the most serious of intentions. My goal is not of becoming some support tactics group, or a side-group with jokes to spare. I am honestly pissed with Tom Riddle.

The Shadow Phoenix is going to destroy Lord Voldemort, period.

Getting back to the matter at hand, "Hedwig I believe the area that best suits you is that of spying, information gathering and assassination. With the right training and equipment you can become the best assassin bird in the country." An assassin owl, how fucking cool is that?

"I will be practicing on Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, two subjects I can proudly call my turf." It was true. I may not have skills for a subject that will aid me in a battle, I may be a total geek, but I believed that Runes and Arithmancy was just what I will need in this war. After all every war is not won on the battlefield. As for Trevor, " Finally, Trevor will be…"

I have no idea what Trevor can do. I look at Trevor and he gives me a shrug. A SHRUG? Did the goddamn toad just shrug! Is anybody watching this? Don't tell me he is a prince underneath all that gooey mass, waiting for a kiss!

I shake my head from my absurd line of thought. This is the magic world after all, shit happens. Finding my voice again I address Trevor, " Trevor you do what you think will help the most. All right?"

Trevor nods at me. This getting old seriously, but then it is me who is talking with an owl and a toad about taking down Voldemort.

"With this we come to the end of the first meeting of The SP. I would request the members to keep in mind the points made in today's meeting and come back with valuable input in the next meeting. Meeting Adjourned."

I stand up and stretch my tired limbs as Hedwig flies inside the owlery to maybe catch some rest. Trevor has disappeared in the grass and the sun will start to set in about an hour. I head back to my dorms for a nice shower and maybe some rest before the Halloween feast.

The Halloween feast turned out to be pretty good. Only Umbridge's ugly mug stood out like a sore thumb in the festivities. After the festivities everybody headed back to their dorms to finally get some sleep. As I rest my head on the pillow and sleep starts to overcome me only one thought filters through my head,

'Voldemort, I'm going to destroy you.'

 _ **A/N: PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. IT WILL BE MUCH APPRECIATED**_


	2. Progress

Rise and Shine. It's a new day, time for hitting th- UUGGHHHH. "Goddamnit, shut the fucking curtains Colin!"

Colin Creevey, who had been looking out of the window in some weird ass titanic pose, jumped three inches of the ground and closed the curtains instantly. Colin is a nice guy but way too enthusiastic for the mornings.

I've never been a morning person; in fact I am pretty sure I am a relative of the bats considering my sleeping patterns. Them being, that I do not need a time to sleep, I only need the conditions. If it is dark or cool or comfy or boring or a million other things then I might use the opportunity to sleep. History of Magic meets with a lot of my criteria's, so it is definitely in my nap time. So is Potions actually which perfectly meets the criteria of 'sleeping-to-piss-off-the-jackass'.

Though I stopped in third year, when Snape actually called my Mom by surprise during one of the lessons, a surprise for _me_ that is. I didn't know the professors could do that. When Mom woke me up with the sweetest of the honey sugar smiles, I knew this was it. It was the end of my reputation in front of my class. The Shame. Oh, the shame of getting a dressing down by your own mother in front of your entire class. The school was pretty sure that Snape was high on drugs the following week and Daniel's smug smirk deserved a few punches to wipe it off. Rosaline was the only one who was even slightly sympathetic, though even she would giggle at times remembering some of Mom's tirade.

But, the worst of them all, the absolute worst had been Rosaline's best friend Hermione Granger. Hermione would more than often tell me not to sleep in Potions, only for me to sleep again. After the incident she wore a perpetual 'I told you so' expression on her face. Every time, every goddamn time I looked at her, there would always be that same expression. She kept it up for the entire month until I apologized for not listening and agreeing to consider my suggestions more seriously in the future.

Even so, Hermione is the only person I can call a true friend in the entire school. Actually Hermione is my first friend ever. True, we had the Weasleys and the Blacks come around a lot, but it was not the same.

Hermione and I met when she came looking for an empty compartment, during the train ride in our first year. I was the only one occupying mine, as Rosy was with Daniel, so we shared. She knew who I was as her elder sister Sophia was friends with Daniel and Ron, and she was totally hyper excited about everything. She went off about a mile a minute on everything she knew. If I tried to ask her something, she would cut me off with a question and then go to answer it herself. It was amusing honestly, but as an 11 year old kid I found it absolutely terrifying. I realize the reason now. Over the years Mom, Rosy and Hermione have formed a sort of a trio themselves, whose sole purpose is to make my existence hell. They have formed some sort of network where monthly reports about me are exchanged and discussed. Needless to say I find a howler whenever a month ends at my breakfast table. I have learned to ignore it over the years as have most of the other students, who found it hilarious at first, but Hermione and Rosaline still go over everything Mom misses in her monthly tirade.

Even so, never have I done anything to improve on my laziness nor have I stopped their attempts at bugging me. It lets me know that someone cares. Mom, Rosy and Hermione are the three most important girls in my life. I of course love Dad and Daniel too very much, but it's not the same. I may sound medieval, but I really have this animalistic instinct to want to protect them. They may be better than me at this fighting business and I'm all for girl power, but it's not wrong to want to protect someone is it?

Now, with the rise of Voldemort I know each one of them is in danger because of many reasons. Mom for being a muggleborn, an order member, a potter, Daniel's mother and other such bullshit reasons; similarly are Rosy and Hermione.

I never have cursed my lack of battle prowess as much as I do now. It is the most recurring nightmare these days, where I find all three of them dying at my feet and all I can do is watch, useless and crying pathetically to them to 'not die'. That is why I have decided to make my move before anybody makes theirs. I will destroy Voldemort before he even entertains a thought about attacking someone.

The ministry doesn't believe that Voldemort has returned and Voldy is using this opportunity to lay low and gather his forces and make plans. It will take a year or two for Voldemort to show his face, and the order is also waiting for Voldemort to make his first move. When the Shadow Phoenix will strike, they are all going to be blindsided by our sucker punch.

Now on to more important matters, my bladder feels like it's going to burst, so that takes priority I guess.

Getting down to the Common room, I see Hermione and Rosaline waiting for me to go to breakfast. Rosaline's red hair is tied in a ponytail, and Hermione's untamable hair still look wet from her shower. They gleam slightly from the morning sunlight pouring through the windows, giving her rosy complexion a transcendent kind of look.

She's Beautiful.

Oh, did I forget to mention? I'm in love with Hermione Granger.

But… that's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things for now. I've decided to ask her for a date after I defeat Voldemort. I think that'll look cool enough, for her to agree for a date. The confession can come afterwards. Like a hundred date afterwards when my poor heart can manage it, and I have a job and a house for her to consider me a respectable individual. Yep, that sounds good enough. I hope. I can always become a dark lord otherwise. If I defeat Voldemort I'm pretty sure I'll be familiar with the territory.

Rosaline is waiting with a patient expression, while Hermione has 'you're late' tattooed all over her face. I smile as I approach them. "Morning."

Rosaline giggles and waves at me while Hermione huffs and turns sideways covering her face with her hair. Weird.

"Ready for breakfast, Harry?" Really Rosy?

"Ah! Forgot my potions kit, lemme go get it."

"Ha-Ha" Sarcasm from 'Mione, " Very funny Harry." is the usual follow up to my jokes. However pathetic they may be.

"At least I try." That's true… and unnecessary.

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Do I hear thunderclouds rolling? It's best not to get her mad.

"Genius deduction Miss Granger." OK, I did; and the Lockhart impression was going too far I think. Ah well, the wonders of youth.

I wonder what her reactio- "Aiieeeee! Holy Fu-" She did not have to kick me on the shin! Fucking hurts like hell! And after the balls it's the worst place to get hit, believe me.

And why must Rosaline giggle so much? I swear these sisters are a weird bunch.

"Enjoying the morning, Harry." Ah! Here comes dear brother. Down with the smirk, his gang in tow.

Tch.

"Oh yeah, the roller coaster that life is!" Everybody cracks up at that, except the Weasley. I swear these Weasleys are genetically loons.

We move down towards breakfast, Hermione chatting with her sister Sophia and Daniel talking to Rosy. Weasley is starting to show withdrawal symptoms so I tell them to hurry up.

After Breakfast, Danny leaves for his classes and I leave with Rosy and Hermione. Throughout classes I go over the notes I have made up on the fidelius charm and the effect of distance on magic. I have some theories that pop into my head, but there always seems to be a piece missing to it.

Magical theory states that the effect of a spell decreases with distances by a square factor. That means the Fidelius would have to be cast with impossible amounts of magic charging it, but though the Fidelius takes large amount of energy to be performed it is nowhere near the calculative estimate for it to work. The question then is, that what makes the fidelius averse to the theory of other spells.

My answer came during a free period in the library. Hermione and Rosy were talking about something when I caught a piece of their conversation.

"-so Professor Snape is going to be instructing him on it?" Hermione always calls him Professor.

"Yeah, Professor Dumbledore has been pushing Daniel to learn Occlumency for a while now. He says his mind needs to be better protected. The recur-"

It clicked. It all came rushing in at the same time, as if… as if I understood Universe and reality a little better.

Occlumency? Occlumency! Mind. Thoughts. Consciouness. Real. Non-existent. It all made sense!

I let my thoughts gather and settle down, letting them form a clear picture. When I was sure of my theory I took out my parchment and began scribbling furiously.

It was so simple now. Any spell that is meant to affect the physical world around it, is necessarily going to dissipate over long distances. You cannot hope to release a stunner in blank air and expect it to hit someone in China. No, that is a very extreme example; say a cutting curse will clearly severe a limb of a person if shot at point blank, but at a distance of 50 meters it will only leave a deep wound. But there is one branch of magic that has some exceptions to this rule.

The mind arts.

Passive legilimency can be performed, as long as there is eye contact. True it has its downside that eye contact after 100-150 meters is not possible, but as long as there is it will not make a difference if the subject is in front of you or is 50 meters away from you.

Legilimency performed by the wand cannot be said to be of a similar nature because it possesses the ability to cause someone physical harm and can fry their brains if used dangerously.

The mental connection shared by Daniel and Voldemort is also a magic unaffected by distance. It is a window into each other's mind.

So the answer zeroes in on the fact that Magic will continue to reduce in power with distance if it is meant to physically affect the world around it, but in case of magic like the Fidelius charm, it is meant to simply spread through the minds or the conscious of the people in existence. It merely locks a memory or something that is not comprehensible on a physical level.

Similar is the case with the jinx. The jinx on Voldemort's name is merely that whenever the word Voldemort was spoken it triggered a magical signal to reach the mind of the person assigned to send the snatcher squads.

Therefore in conclusion, the universal radius can be wielded by any magic as long as it does not affect the physical world directly around it. This conclusion has given me a ton of Ideas and theories that are going to be immensely useful in this war.

If I can create even one decent piece of a working magical idea which uses the concept of Universal radius, the SP is going to possess a chance against the dark lord.

I spent the rest of the day going through various ideas and theories, and confined myself to the library. If Rosy and 'Mione were surprised they didn't say much and left to their own devices. I need some good studying to be able to apply the theory of universal radius in practice.

Nevertheless, I'm making progress.


	3. Dobby

**There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.**

 **A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.**

It's been a week since I started working on the concept of Universal Radius. I have a solid game plan that can help us use this concept beautifully. I need to schedule a meeting of the SP before the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, since Daniel wants to hold some sort of meeting at Hogshead at that time. He just told me to be there. Hermione seems over excited about it, but wouldn't tell me otherwise. Rosy was also very secretive about it, but says I'm definitely going to like it.

Either way, I need to prepare for the SP meet. I'll inform Trevor and Hedwig to come on Thursday at the same place as before, considering today is Monday I should have ample time.

I'm with Hermione and Rosy again at the Library. I'm going over a text written in Japanese Kanji and Rune symbols that detail the ritual I want to modify for the Universal Radius concept.

"Harry, are you reading Japanese samurai stories again?" What Hermione is saying might have been true a year ago. At the beginning, my talent for Runes and languages was used up in reading up all the fiction and non-fiction stories that I could manage in the languages that I mastered. Runes is a study of ancient languages after all. Even now, I don't have some super old secret book of deadly secrets that will lead me to victory.

But, what I have that no one in this war possesses is the knowledge of every magical culture that has ever existed. The culture and ancient knowledge of the Chinese civilization may be common knowledge in the present magical community of China, but I'm pretty sure Tom Riddle wouldn't have a clue about the concept of 'chi'. I'm not saying that I can master 'chi' myself, as it takes decades of practice, but there are a lot of other accessible ideas lurking in these different cultures.

As for the ritual I'm reading, it is exactly what I need right now. Firstly it would be needed to be tweaked a little to spread its effective area of influence to the level of the 'Universal Radius'. That would be moderately challenging but not impossible. Most of the ingredients are also accessible, with some being a little challenging, but the only obstacle that is stopping me is the final Ingredient. The blood of the subject, that means the blood of Voldemort. I'm pretty sure Voldemort has never donated in a blood bank, so yeah. We have a sort of a dead end there.

"Harrryyy?" Oh yes, Hermione.

"Yes, Mione?" I raise my eyes ever so slightly from my book.

"What are you doing?"

"Something Important." I shouldn't have, but it's just so much fun.

"Oh Really?" She's killing the sarcasm, I'll give her that. "Mind shedding a little light on it, for us poor souls?"

Rosaline is giggling in her book in the corner. I'm sure a little louder and Madam Pince would ban us from the library for the term.

"Oh yes of course Miss Granger. You see, I was contemplating the importance of toads in the war against Voldemort."

Rosaline is shaking at this point and Hermione is both irritated and confused.

"Toads?" Hermione grits her teeth.

"Toads" I couldn't have said it more casually.

She looks like she wants to go on a rant, her face is going red and her nostrils are flaring, but then she exhales a loud breath and goes back to her work reluctantly.

I raise my hands to applaud her for showing restraint for the first time, but then my survival instincts ( and Rosy) kick in to make me also go back to my work.

I decide on preparing for the ritual, thinking of a way to bypass the final ingredient. I make my preparations for the next two days, informing Trevor and Hedwig to meet me behind the owlery after classes.

I order most of the ingredients via owl, draining my monthly allowances in an instant. It will kill me during the Hogsmeade weekend, but you've got to put world safety above candies. Wednesday evening finds me loitering in the kitchens after curfew. Dobby brings me a nice cup of coffee and some cookies to go along with it. Dobby is a nice guy, and I would have recruited him for SP were it not for his bond to Hogwarts.

I met Dobby in my first year at Hogwarts. Dobby was a house-elf belonging to the Malfoy family, who had taken it upon himself to stop Daniel attending the year at Hogwarts because of an imminent danger in the school.

It was quite nerve-wracking for me to witness those attacks on the muggle-born, but Hermione was terrified. Even then she put up the strongest face amongst the students and voiced her displeasure at the discrimination of the attacker. I was in awe of her, honestly.

No really, I mean it's not that she was the first person I saw put on a strong face during some crisis. But… but most of them know sub-consciously they are not alone. Even Daniel has a sense of security that there are a number of people behind him, but Hermione… she was different.

It sends a shiver down my spine just thinking about it.

She, an 11 year old tiny school girl enters a world she has known only for a year through the stories of her sister. She is targeted by second year bullies like Draco Malfoy, for her parentage and told she will always be beneath others. The only person who she can turn for guidance to is her older sister, who is barely a twelve year old herself and spends most of her time with the trio. Then in the same year, an attacker emerges who promises to eradicate people like herself, and starts petrifying people left and right. In face of all this she had the nerves and the stomach to stand up, raise her middle finger and shout a 'Fuck Off!' to everyone who dared to cross her path.

I think that was really, really cool.

When Hermione was petrified in May, I was scared and plain out depressed. I would sit by her bed and just try to talk to her about whatever came to my mind, no matter how lame. I think it was about 20 days after her petrification that I started to really feel helpless. It was just the day before that Ginny was taken in the chamber too.

" _Come on 'Mione, I'm tired after hearing myself go on and on about how boring the classes are." I was so sure too, that she would jump out of bed to correct me on my tardiness regarding classes. "It's so distressing seeing you there emotionless and unmoving like a stone statue. Even my super-funny jokes don't work. Hmph, spoilsport." I was trying to sound tough, but I'm sure if Hermione could see it she would have seen through my lie in a second._

 _Tears were starting to form in eyes and my hands were clenched so tight that my nails were digging into my palm and bleeding. " A-All right… I have been working v-very h-h- hard on this one, s-so you better laugh; Okay?"_

 _I looked her in the face for some kind of response; I knew it was hopeless but… but it was hard accepting it. My tears stung harder, my nails dug deeper._

" _Say, How d-do you organize a s-space party?"_

 _I looked at her face, still emotionless and unmoving. It was too much for me. It was the breaking point. I put my hands on my eyes and started crying, it was all too much. I was frustrated and angry and sad all at the same time. I started shouting in my desperation,_

" _You Planet! You planet dammit! Don't you bloody get it? Plan-et; Plan-it! Just Goddamn laugh already! I am hurting so much, just wake up…" My voice was more like a whine of a crying baby at the last, "…w-wake up please."_

As I was crying I had been firmly holding on to Hermione's hand. It was then that I discovered the mystery of the basilisk which Hermione had brilliantly deduced in the library. I shared the new piece of information with Daniel. He was really thankful for the information and told me he would make sure to use the information properly, though I had no idea of how at that time. I came to know just the next day when Ginny was taken into the chamber, and the trio went in without informing anyone. Daniel never told me the full story of what happened down there but I know the relevant parts. It was also here that I tricked Lucius Malfoy into releasing Dobby from his hooks. Dobby was in awe of me after that. It felt flattering honestly, though Daniel would have used the term annoying. Hermione was un-petrified shortly after and no matter how much she insists up till today, I did not hug her when she was cured. It's so not manly. Hmph. She doesn't even consider what will happen to my macho reputation if word gets out. Though I'm sure Mom pretty much destroyed it in third year.

Coming back to the living, I get up after finishing with my coffee. Before leaving, I decide to ask some questions to dobby anyway.

"Um Dobby, this may sound strange, but are you entirely loyal towards Hogwarts and its officials?"

Dobby looked at me with big eyes and his ears immediately straightened.

"No sir Harry Potter sir."

"NO?" I did not expect that.

"No."

"Um… So who are you loyal to?"

"You, Mr. Harry Potter sir."

I looked around just for the heck of it.

I thought up on a number of questions, and finally settled on "How?"

"Is 'cause Dobby wanting to Mr. Harry Potter sir."

All I could do was finally sigh at this point. Since this was the case then it would be no harm to tell Dobby of my plan. You can never doubt a house elves' loyalty.

"Dobby, is there somewhere we can talk in private?"

"Dobby be knowing just the place Mr. Harry Potter sir. Please you be holding Dobby's hand and then Dobby be taking you."

I took hold of Dobby's Hand and he transported us into some empty looking corridor. There was a weird painting on one wall and the other was blank. The corridor was empty, I'll give that much to Dobby, but…

"Are you sure no one will be able to hear us Dobby, I mea-"

"No no no no Mr. Harry Potter Sir, you be walking three times back and forth in front of this wall and thinking of quiet room, then room coming."

"Ooookay" I was pretty doubtful about that but did it anyway, and…

…and lo and behold it was a door. I must say it was a surprise. Was this some kind of hidden classroom?

We entered the room to find a large room that possessed adequate furniture for sitting and talking.

"What is this room Dobby?"

"We House Elves calling it the 'come and go' room Mr. Harry Potter Sir. It is also being called 'The room of requirement'. You walking three time in front of this room and thinking of any thing you be needing, the room will be giving."

"You mean to say if I think of anything I need this room will provide."

"Yes Mr. Harry Potter Sir." My mind was swimming with possibilities, and things seemed to be falling in place a lot easier now. This would certainly make things interesting. I could almost feel the glee, flowing through my veins. If what Dobby said is true then Voldemort better watch his ass. My eyes lit up with a new found fire and I rubbed my hands vigorously.

I finally turned to Dobby and decided to seal the deal with him too.

"Now Dobby, I have a proposition for you."

Dobby was almost jumping with excitement.

"Anything, Harry Potter Sir."

I cackled inside, feeling the end of Moldywarts coming near.

 _ **A/N: PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. IT WILL BE MUCH APPRECIATED**_


	4. The Second Meeting

**There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.**

 **A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.**

When Thursday arrived I asked Dobby to bring Hedwig and Trevor to the room of requirement for our meeting. Dobby came back with Hedwig perched on his shoulders and Trevor oddly resting on top of Dobby's head.

I had made the room small and cozy, with two seats for Dobby and I, a stand for Hedwig and a shallow water basin for Trevor. Trevor seeing the Basin immediately leapt into it, sticking just his head over the basin to look at us. Hedwig also perched itself atop the bird stand. I sat down myself and told Dobby to take the last remaining seat.

Dobby was about to start on tirades of my generosity but I stopped him with a hand gesture indicating that this is not the time and place. There was absolute silence in the room, and I let it stretch for a few seconds for the sake of the dramatics.

Then I spoke in a very firm and unwavering tone, letting my voice penetrate the room.

"I, Harry James Potter, call in session the second meeting of the Shadow Phoenix." Full of enthusiasm, Dobby starts applauding immediately, in a manner reminiscent of a child where the palms meet exactly in the same positions over-lapping each other perfectly. I applaud as well, like an adult, and Hedwig and Trevor hoot and croak respectively.

"Before we begin today's meeting, I would like the members of this august gathering to welcome an outstanding addition to our ranks. Please welcome Dobby, the house elf." As soon as I mention Dobby, Hedwig and Trevor start making sounds loudly which is joined by my own proud clapping. The room also drops confetti from the ceiling in a beautiful show of magic. Dobby who is now standing, is more red than it could be healthy for a house elf.

"Dobby, if you would say a few words." I ask Dobby as I'm sure that's how the actual proceeding's work.

Dobby nods his head vigorously and speaks, "Dobby hopes Dobby be a good help to Sir Mr. Harry Potter sir." Great he's added another 'sir' to my titles. "Dobby be helping in any way Dobby can. Dobby is hoping that Dobby will also be kicking stupid snake master ass." Woah.

That was bold.

"Thank you Dobby" Dobby sits down on his seat, " and now to the first agenda of our meeting."

I open my notebook with records of the previous meeting. "The first agenda to our meeting shall be to see the progress made on the points raised in the previous gathering."

I flip a page in my notebook, "Point one was the need for a theme song for the SP. Any Progress?"

Hedwig hooted to Dobby who brought me a page of out of some muggle textbook, " Hmm.. What's this? Rachmaninoff piano concerto no. 2? Hedwig, is this orchestra?" Since when did owls listen to orchestra? Though Hedwig is no ordinary owl, I should just learn to accept her genius. Dobby brought me then another piece of paper which contained the piano notes for the theme of Tom and Jerry, a muggle cartoon. I have no doubt this was Trevor's suggestion. It certainly would be a good joke on the death eaters, withering away to ashes while Tom and Jerry plays in the background. I'm not sure still. I myself have not chosen a theme because of the amount of time I spent on the other topics. Looks like we'll have to suspend the theme for another session. I suspend the decision of the theme song, for another session and finally begin with the serious issue. Not that a theme song isn't a serious concern for a cool secret association, but it's just not as serious as some other topics, if you get what I mean.

"Point two that came up in session one of our meetings was the topic of 'Universal Radius'. I would like to present my case first to the gathering and the rest may add on if they feel like it." I stand up and take a bow and then I go on to present my findings of the connection between the mind arts and the 'universal radius' and how we can affect everybody around the globe as long as it does not have direct physical ramifications and is subtle and psychological. It is a huge discovery with tremendous potential if used correctly, and I tell them all of this in my distinct oratory marvel of a speech. Everybody cheers loudly when I finish my _era-defining_ speech and Dobby is even crying in admiration. I think I went too far at the end of the speech. I should not have promised free socks for everyone if I became the minister of magic.

Oh well, at least I now know that I have talent for politics. I mean I know I'll vote for anyone who promised me free socks. Such a brilliant idea; sometimes I surprise even myself.

The rest of the group did not have anything more to add. So we moved on to the last point for our first agenda.

"Point three was the development and research of each of ours area of expertise. Let me start from myself first, then we'll move to the rest of the members of the SP." I took out 7 worn out looking notebooks from my bag and set them on the table. "These are my handwritten notes on the various magical cultures of the world. These are no secret ancient spells that will destroy civilizations or anything like that, but a trove of knowledge that comes to those who are willing enough to look for it."

I pick up the first book. " These are the notes about the magicals of Japan. In these notes the most interesting part are the sealing techniques used by the Japanese and the use of hand signs. The hand signs are a set of complex hand gestures which when performed in correct order and timing, can substitute the need of a wand. There are advantages and disadvantages to it obviously, but I have given good thought to it and come up with a good solution. You see hand seals, are infinitely better than simple wandless magic where the power and variation in spells is extremely limited"

In wandless magic you basically wave your hand and focus very hard on your intent to make something happen, which results in a loss of power.

"Though hand seals are capable of doing your magic justice, they are still a tiny bit behind a proper wand. All in all, hand seals are a good advantage to have in combat but tedious to master. As I hope everyone here knows, I am just an average fighter or duelist. If I was somebody like my brother, it would have made sense to learn them, but my investing time in an art which is not going to help in the way I plan to defeat Voldemort, is a waste of time for me after all. BUT…"

I suddenly found myself getting excited, "…but, there is one person here who can benefit greatly out of this." Understanding my line of reasoning Hedwig started hooting loudly in appreciation. Feeling giddy all of a sudden I said in my best boxing announcer match, "It is none other than our very own; the crowd's favorite; the dream of the women; the House-Elf DOBBY" The room of requirement had also provided some stadium lights and a hanging microphone, I went over to dobby and raised his arm for the crowd. Hedwig and Trevor shouted from the commentators' box loudly and my roar in the mike enveloped the room.

Dobby just looked stunned with his eyes wide and shining. The room then suddenly went back to the normal furnishings as if telling us to get over with the gag already. Dobby who was still stunned turned around to voice his doubts towards me, " Dobby very happy that Master Harry believes in Dobby, but Dobby confused… Dobby don't under-"

"I get it, I get it. Let me explain it to you then."

Dobby nods his head appreciatively.

"Dobby you know that only witches and wizards are allowed to use wands right."

Dobby nods his head. Time for Strike one…

"Is it because House Elves or other magical creatures are incapable, of the level of magic suitable for a wand?"

Dobby just looks down in contemplation and twists his hands nervously. Time for strike two…

"If that were true, how would you explain you knocking out a wizard like Lucius Malfoy. As far as we know House-Elf magic could be limitless, but is stopped by the unfair laws of the ministry regarding wand usage."

Dobby perks up suddenly getting the gist of my idea. Time for strike three…

"But even if you cannot use a wand, here we have something which is just as close. If you focus your entire time on learning hand signs and their application we'll have a master amidst our ranks. Your power will be unbound and the world will know your name" Wait for it. I had a cool nickname prepared just for this moment, "Juggernaut Dobby."

…aaaand that's an out or, should I say more like an _in._ Meh. Whatever

Dobby immediately starts jumping up and down, his eyes shining in approval and all the while shouting '-thank you Master Harry, Dobby loves the idea…' or something.

I wait for a while for Dobby to calm down. "Now as I was saying, Dobby shall be learning the hand signs from these notes. I will also be learning a single hand sign that is used to initiate and release the sealing techniques that I mentioned in the beginning. There is no chance that we have time enough to learn anything about sealing as it is a very complex art. The most we will be able to do is copy paste some of the basic but useful seals to give us an advantage in the war. That will be the most we will be able to extract out of the Japanese culture in the limited amount of time provided to us."

I pick up the second notebook, "These are the notes that are a brief version of the studies done on the ancient Mesopotamian civilization. In ancient Mesopotamia, its citizens especially the Sumerians used to worship the Goddess Inanna. Inanna was the queen of the Heavens, the Goddess of Love, Wisdom, War and Combat."

"More importantly Inanna used to be associated with owls." This certainly caught Hedwig's attention.

"These notes illustrate loads of rituals and spells that are related specifically to owls. There is one particular thing that has caught my attention." But before that I needed to confirm something, "Hedwig I know it messes up the order a little, but can you show us what you have done in regards to your skillset?"

Hedwig hooted in confirmation and landed on top of the table.

She stuck out both of his wings open for all to see. We all inched a little closer to see what would happen.

"Hoot"

With that the tips of Hedwig's wings suddenly went silver and attained a glowing tint. I extended my hand carefully and touched one of the wings tip.

Sharp.

It cut my hand so easily. This was very limited transfiguration, but for a magical creature it was genius. Though not every Owl is magical I knew Hedwig was the most magical owl the moment I had seen her.

She showed us the same skill with her talons and beak where her sharp nails and beak become even more deadly.

One more very useful skill that Hedwig picked was the ability to change the color of her feathers. It was not a complete camouflage yet, but nevertheless the ability to change color would come in handy at times.

Hedwig had truly taken definitive steps towards becoming an infiltration and assassination expert. This made my job easier.

"You see Hedwig what I'm going to give you is the gift of Speed." Hedwig suddenly got a mad glint in her eyes.

"The skill known as Godspeed."

Hedwig started hooting in a terrifyingly evil laugh.

 _ **A/N: Please recommend a theme song for the Shadow Phoenix and your thoughts on adding a human member to the SP, if so then who?**_

 _ **Review and let me know your thoughts.**_


	5. Final Ingredient

**There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.**

 **A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.**

I told Hedwig to go sit back on her perch as I explain the workings behind Godspeed.

"Now as you know, having the advantage of speed in the field of infiltration and assassination is a pretty big advantage in itself. The Sumerian rituals and spells are designed to help owls specifically achieve great speeds."

I took out a large folded diagram from the Mesopotamian notebook. The diagram when unfolded had a lot of inscription on it but the main focus were three circles that were drawn concentrically right in the center. Also what stood out the most was the drawing of Inanna, the goddess, depicted as a beautiful golden owl in the center of the innermost circle.

The three concentric circles were not like a line drawn by some instrument with clear demarcation on the boundaries of the circles. They were a drawing of some of the elements fading into each other. To describe it visually, it was like the outermost layer represented the element of _air_. The air forms the outermost circle which slowly dissolves into the second innermost circle of _fire._ The fire is a golden scarlet making the middle layer of the concentric circles shine which then dissolves into the innermost circle consisting of the element of _lightning_ and in the center of that lightning sits the mythical golden owl Inanna.

I go over these details quickly with the rest of the members of the SP, explaining to them what each circle and the owl represent. Then finally coming to the crux of the matter, "So what basically these diagrams represent are the different stages of Godspeed. The ritual when completed will create a bond between Hedwig and the elements. The first element as should be evident from the diagram to bond with Hedwig will be the wind. Now-" I take a second to breathe.

"The wind will grant Hedwig the ability to travel _as the wind."_ As they contemplate the specific use of my words I elaborate, "Yes. 'As the wind', not 'like' the wind or 'as fast as' the wind but _as the wind."_

I look towards Hedwig, "You will merely be a wisp of air, no body and no presence. In simple words you will be a magical wind." Hedwig looked positively giddy.

"There are disadvantages of course. First, there is a time limit." Everybody started protesting in annoyance at once, even Dobby's ears had fallen at the knowledge, "Oh come on! Don't be like that."

"Hedwig can stay as the wind for a total of 105 adult human breaths." The human breath is the counter of time used in the diagrams, therefore I'll have to translate it for the rest so, "One breath is about four seconds long that will give us about 420 seconds of time, which is exactly equal to seven minutes."

"Therefore you have 7 minutes" Hedwig looked contemplative, with her head tilted to the side. 7 minutes is a good enough number to at least make an escape.

"Oh yeah! It will take about a week for your balance with the element to settle again and allow you to assume the form of the wind. Don't give me that look Hedwig, it's not like we'll be doing something every second day. A week's rest will be just about fine."

Summing it up," In conclusion, Hedwig will be able to become the wind for seven minutes every week."

As everyone was digesting this final statement, I decided to spice things up a little, "But!"

That grabbed their attention, or maybe it was my shouting, whatever, "…but, that's not the end. You seem to be forgetting about the diagram. The wind is just an outer covering to the elements lying within. To be honest, I also don't know exactly what the fire represents but there are hints within the notes that imply something almost preposterous."

I love the Drama.

"There are mentions of owls that became so connected with the wind that the gods of the wind decided to bless those owls with _the flame."_

…

"Those owls that have said to been blessed with _the flame_ have been mentioned to have shown abilities reminiscent to a true…"…, "blooded…"…, "Phoenix."

Silence.

"If any Owl can do that, then it is definitely you Hedwig. That is why I trust you to with the power this ritual will provide, because you already are a phoenix at heart."

This time there is no humor from anyone but only a serious nod from Hedwig. Everybody is contemplative for a moment when Dobby gets up and walks over to the table. He extends one of his long fingers and puts it on the innermost circle in the diagram. _The Lightning._

"Honestly Dobby, I don't' know. Not much at least."

I take out the Mesopotamian notes and open up a particular passage, I point it out and read it for them in the simplest English translation possible,

"- _the third tribal chief's loyal Shubnalu was sent offerings by the king himself. The rumor is that he has ascended even beyond."_

Addressing the members of the SP again, "Shubnalu is the name of the owl loyal to the third tribal chief of Sumer, a part of the Mesopotamian civilization. It is a given that Shubnalu was blessed with the flame as it is mentioned quite frequently."

"So when, _'rumor is that he has ascended even beyond'_ it is very clear what the implications are."

I gave them time to digest this before the final revelation.

I flipped the notes to another page. There is a single line written on the entire page.

"This is an excerpt from the notes written by the third tribal chief on Shubnalu's death. It goes something like this…" I translated again, " _loyal Shubnalu travelled to the ancestral lands leaving behind 7 syllables, 'Not the end'."_

"So basically, the owl's dying message was 'Not the end.'"

I looked at Hedwig's line of sight, "You are correct girl. I also think that the golden owl in the middle is not some fancy symbolism. There is something even further beyond lightning."

"A fourth stage, a final dimension, the stage of the Goddess Inanna, the true _Godspeed._ "

Well that's a moot point for now since we have yet to perform the ritual for even the stage of wind.

I clapped my hand three times to break everyone out of their stupor, "So that concludes the second set of notes that were made on the Mesopotamian civilization."

"I have 5 more sets of notes with me. I do have a lot of ideas in these remaining five, but I think we should be patient with these as we already have our hands full already."

I look at Trevor, "I'm sorry Trevor I did not know what to help you in and was unable to procure anything. Why don't you show me what you've done over the few weeks so that I can think of something next time."

Trevor croaked and jumped a few times in the basin trying to say something. Dobby as if remembering something brought a pair of long leaves to Harry.

"Master Harry potter Sir this is what Trevor bringing."

"Hmm..?"

It is a pair of leaves that are stacked one on top of the other. They are relatively long for a pair of leaves making one wonder how Trevor carried them. He could have used his long tongue, maybe.

Trevor looks towards me and prods me to go further. I nod and remove the leaf on top.

Fuck.

"Trevor are these…?"

Trevor nods enthusiastically and jumps a few times for good measure.

Unicorn Hair.

Two of them.

"How did you find them? Fallen on the floor of the forbidden forest?"

But that can't be because this pair of Unicorn Hair is still vibrating with Magic meaning they were willingly given. Unicorn Hair without the magic is already rare as it is. I mean, even in the wands all Unicorn hair is not willingly given hair. The purpose of Unicorn hair in wands is to conduct, so dead hair is also fine as long as they are in a shape to conduct magic. But…

…willingly given hair is something else entirely. It is almost on the level of a willingly given Phoenix feather, like Daniel's wand core or…

…Voldemort's.

" How did you manage this Trevor?"

Trevor looked at me and then started to croak loudly and jumping about the basin.

"Uhhh…"

Anybody knows toad here?

Hedwig doesn't seem to be paying attention now and is probably thinking of the discussion earlier.

Dobby seems to be staring at Trevor intently and nodding his head whenever Trevor would croak. Thank Merlin at least one person got it.

"Dobby you understand what Trevor is trying to say?"

"No Master Harry Potter Sir."

What the-

"Then why are you nodding your head at whatever he says?"

"OH. Dobby trying to be guessing sir."

"Really? Have you guessed anything?" Something useful maybe?

"Yes Master Harry Potter Sir. Dobby think Trevor saying that grapes are better than apples."

…

"Huh?"

What in the world? How can someone even reach that conclusion from a toad jumping in a basin?

Ah, Whatever. I'll go crazy if I think too much about it. I'll just let it go for today.

Coming back to my formal mode, in order to carry the meeting forward I cough to draw everyone's attention to me.

"So with that we conclude the third point of our first agenda too; as we have an idea about everyone's skills and future except Trevor in the SP. But looking at Trevor's accomplishment today, I will definitely find something useful for Trevor the next time."

"Now there is only one more agenda for today that is brought by me. The second agenda is the matter regarding the items and ingredients that will be needed for the two rituals that we have to perform. The ingredients for the ritual of Godspeed are not that difficult, but uncommon nonetheless. The ingredients necessary for the ritual regarding my concept of 'universal radius' are even rarer, but just by a little bit."

I take out four pieces of paper and hand it to each member of the SP, myself included. I roll it into a cylinder and Trevor grabs it by his tongue, Hedwig clutches it by her talons and Dobby simply holds on to it.

I point to my own paper and show it to them on the center of the table. "This is a complete list of all the ingredients we will need. We all have on such identical list. Whenever you find any one of these ingredients just apply your saliva on top of the name of the ingredient that you have found."

I know it's a little icky, but it does the desired work, that being…

"Whenever one of us will report something it will update everyone's list on which ingredient has been found and who has done it. This way we can divide the work of finding the ingredients and finish it faster."

Trevor looks at me and croaks sticking out the rolled up sheet in his tongue.

"Don't worry Trevor, I have charmed it so that an intentional lick by you will only trigger the magic. Also, when all the Ingredients are found the sheet will warm up and glow, signaling for an immediate meeting here, in the room of requirement."

All of them nod in understanding, but it looks like Dobby has a question.

"Yes Dobby?"

"Master Harry Potter sir, what about final ingredient?"

Everybody looks at the list lying on the table. Our eyes scanning, we reach the final ingredient in the list,

"

79*Salamander Blood

80*Wolf Nails

 _81*The Blood of the subject( Tom Marvolo Riddle)_

"

Yes, the blood of Voldemort. It had stumped me too in the beginning; but "There is a person who has the exact same blood running in his body as that of Voldemort."

Hedwig understands immediately and takes on a grim look.

"Or should I say Voldemort has this person's blood running through his own body."

There will be some difficulties but I'm sure I can make it work.

"My older brother, Daniel Potter."

 **A/N: PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS.**


	6. Hogshead Chaos

**There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.**

 **A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.**

"Harry, be a little faster would you?" Hermione is getting impatient with all the hype that is around this 'meeting'. It is the second weekend of November so the chill has already seeped into the air. The snow will also be coming soon in a few weeks or so. Rosaline and Hermione are walking ahead of me, giggling and chatting all the while.

It is nice seeing them happy like this, considering a war's brewing right beneath our asses. The road's a little long towards hogsmade so I take out some muggle chocolate that I keep on me. I catch up to the girls, munching on my chocolate in small pleasurable bits. Though the chocolate is stiff because of the cold, it melts immediately on entering my mouth. This chilly wind combined with the melting chocolate is almost divine. I am not a chocolate addict per se but I have my moments. The girls on the other hand…

Rosaline makes a wild snatch towards the chocolate, while Hermione tries to keep me from moving. I raise the chocolate in the air taking advantage of my height, but Hermione flips out her wand to 'disarm' me of the chocolate. Just before she completes the movement and the spell I give the chocolate bar a long nice lick.

Heh heh. That was mean… and funny as hell.

That expression on their faces should be banned for heaven's sake. Did I kill their cat or what? It's my chocolate first of all, and I will decide when to share it. I was going to give it to them if they had spared me a moment alone enjoying a little bit of my chocolate.

Hermione is holding the chocolate with her fingertips at the corners of the bar, seemingly disgusted. I think I see fire burning in her eyes, but it could just be my imagination. Wait, is her hair sparkling with electricity?

Rosy comes towards Hermione to soothe her and uses 'scourgify' on the chocolate bar. "See, it's as good as new now."

'Mione still doesn't look convinced, "But, it will not erase the picture of him licking the bar from my mind." Even Rosy makes a disgusted face, "True that."

How irritating.

"Oh OK, then why don't you give it back to me." I think logic should work on 'Mione at least.

"But I wanted to _eat Chocolate_!" She stomps her feet on the ground and crosses her arms, pouting like a kid. What is she… five? Seriously. But it's so adorable her behaving like this. I want to kiss her for being so cute…

…kiss her…

…I wonder what…stop it!

I'm going to zone out if I start daydreaming like this.

"So you want some chocolate, right?" Hermione just huffs at my question and mutters something like _'as if you care'_.

"I'll give you some chocolate, to the both of you" I point to both Rosy and Hermione, "if you close your eyes for 20 proper seconds."

"How is that going to achieve anything?" Hermione questions and even Rosy is skeptical.

"Just Do it" I tell them. Have I heard that phrase somewhere before?

They still look doubtful but comply nonetheless.

As soon as they close their eyes Rosy starts counting. I immediately whip out the ingredient list that I had given to all the members of the SP 2 days ago and scribble down a quick note for Dobby.

Rosaline has reached 7 seconds and success of this mission will depend on how fast Dobby is. I will be chewed out by Hermione if she sees Dobby after they open their eyes so I will have to put my faith in Dobby's abilities.

At 16 seconds Dobby silently appears with three cups of hot coffee and two bars of chocolate. I float all the items with my wand and Dobby silently pops back. I wonder where Dobby got the ninja outfit from? Meh. Whatever.

Just as Rosy finishes the count and they both open their eyes I float the two cups of coffee in their hands and place the chocolate bars on top of the cups. I take my chocolate bar that Hermione is holding in one of her hands awkwardly and float down the final cup into my hands as well.

So we all stand there with a nice cup of coffee in our hands with some delicious chocolate. Hermione and Rosy still have their mouths open from the shock… and the drool.

"How…" Rosy begins to ask but seeing the smug look on my face, drops it "Oh, forget it! Let's enjoy the treat." Saying that we all begin to move while feasting on our treat.

As I fall into step besides Hermione, I make one final comment, "See, I do care."

Hermione immediately ducks her head and covers her face with her hands and the coffee mug at the same time, while looking in the opposite direction.

Rosy starts giggling furiously and snorting and making all the weird girl noises that are way over my Runic abilities to translate.

There is a comfortable silence after that and we soon reach the Hogshead, where the 'meeting' is supposed to take place. Hermione vanishes our three mugs and we throw our wrappers before entering the Hogshead.

The place is still empty, with just a broke looking Dumbledore standing behind the bar.

All three of us take a seat and make ourselves comfortable.

"Rosy, will you now tell me what the meeting is about?"

"Harry, Daniel will be coming in a few minutes anyway, why don't you be patient?"

Kill me for being curious.

So we waited for the others to arrive, which was not that long actually. Daniel arrived with Ron Weasley and Sophia Granger on his either side. Daniel was rubbing his hands together in order to get them some warmth while Ron Weasley's face matched the color of his hair as the cold seemed to have gotten to him. Sophia was the most composed of them all, scanning her surroundings with an air of authority.

Now that I think upon it, Sophia has this one vital difference from Hermione. While both the sisters are extremely intelligent, Sophia has an air about her. She seems authoritative, both physically and in her demeanor. Like, she always ties her hair in a neat looking ponytail, with a set of angular glasses on her nose. Her facial features are also more pointed like that of McGonagall or the general depiction of a teacher in the muggle culture. Of course there's her attitude too. She is like a code of conduct written by some nasty old farts.

Hermione on the other hand is like flowing poetry; written by a young man in search of a perfect love. There is a command in her tone for sure, but the command has no bite. You simply obey her for the reason of not wanting to disappoint her. People often don't consider her to be a classic 'pretty girl', but the fact that she cannot be specified into designations like these only adds to her beauty. I do remem-

"-arry, are you list-"

What? Huh? Did I just zone out?

"Harry!" That was Rosy, for sure.

Tch. I was so into the zone too.

What do these people want now?

"Haha, I know that look well. Dreaming 'bout them birds mate?" Yeah Weasley I was, now go away. He also probably knows the look from his own in capacitance to think about anything else, except maybe food, chess and quidditch. As if anybody's going to believe him.

Wait.

Why are Hermione and Rosy giving me these looks? They won't believe that… that food addict would they?

Looks like I need to change topics before I am mincemeat.

"So… Who else thinks grapes are better than apples?" I finish lamely. Everybody just scoffs at my pathetic attempt to change the topic but get on with it nonetheless.

Daniel clears his throat to start speaking, when the door opens and a multitude of students come pouring in. There is somebody from every house except from Slytherin. Even the shy Colin Creevey is here, making it about 25 people in total.

After everyone has found some semblance of an order Sophia claps her hands to gather everyone's attention.

Claps her hands? Pfft.

What is she going to do next, clink her silverware on expensive wine glasses?

That would be fucking Hilarious. I cannot wait to see the day, when Ron Weasley will try to eat a seven course meal in proper English custom.

"Good day fellow students."

Fellow who? Man, this is way over my head.

"You all are well aware, I am sure, of the lackluster performance of our defense against the dark arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge. I have a proposal for you all which I am sure will be a relief to those burdened by the overly theoretical direction the DADA course has taken."

So… it's about tackling the DADA issue right?

"As you all know, Daniel here has been an outstanding prodigy in the subject of DADA since his first year." Everybody here nodded their heads at this including me.

"He has been taught personally by his father James Potter and his Godfather Sirius black. Daniel has also had the privilege of getting private lessons from the wizard Albus Dumbledore himself." People were starting to stare with awe at Daniel now, "Also, he is the only one who can tell us about the experience of facing down Lord V-Voldemort himself," She did not have to add the 'Lord' but at least she got the name down; though the other students don't seem to be too pleased about it. "As we should all know by now, that the threat of Lord Voldemort is indeed very real."

"Says who?" Fuck you, Zacharias Smith.

This set a flurry of conversation going about in the crowd. People speculating the credence of the rumors floating about Voldemort's return, the ministry's denial and all other such bullshit. The buzzing was broken by a slightly bold yet nervous voice among the gathered students,

"I b-believe in Daniel." Good old Neville.

There was silence for just a split second.

"Me too" It was Rosy this time.

Their voices of support were soon followed by mostly everyone in the room including me. Barring a select few individuals, the vote of belief seemed to be going strong. Seeing the tide in their favor, Sophia decided to push forward, "Therefore we have decided to form a Secret Club, whose purpose will be learning to defend ourselves under the tutelage of Daniel Potter."

"We have not fixed on the timings or the place of meeting yet, but if you sign on this list here we will make sure to contact you and let you know of the details, regarding the.. err… um .. well details." Sophia slipped up for a moment there, but then I guess nervousness can get to anyone.

More importantly, I absolutely cannot sign up for this! This is a disaster. How am I going to refuse? Everybody will be shocked and hurt by my refusal. Especially Hermione, since she keeps looking towards me and Rosy and is unable to stop talking about 'how cool this is going to be'.

I simply do not have the time and the commitment to be able to attend something like this. If I bind myself to the group it is only going to get in the way of the Shadow Phoenix. I also know that Sophia must have put some sort of enchantments on the list to account for defaulters, and I absolutely cannot pledge my loyalty to a group that I might have to cross at some point.

As I ponder my Dilemma, the ingredient list in my pocket starts turning warm…

Holy Cow! Is it time already? How fast do these guys work? I excuse myself into a corner and take out the list.

Most of the ingredients have been brought in and… I knew it!

About 55% seem to be the work of Trevor. I had my theories when he was able to procure the unicorn hair, but I am sure Trevor is the treasure hunter of our group.

The list seems full, except…

I look over towards Daniel wondering how we are going to manage the final item in the ritual list when suddenly, there is a sound of shattering glass and Hedwig comes barreling in.

What the-

Hedwig swoops over towards Daniel and makes a swipe at his face with her sharp talons. Daniel ducks and covers his face with his arms resulting in Hedwig leaving a gash on his arms. Before anyone can even respond to the situation, Hedwig has flown away through the same window she came from.

Everybody is stumped when suddenly Ron Weasley marches over towards me, "What the bloody hell was that mate?"

Hermione decides to come to my defense, "How can you say that? It's not as if Harry ordered Hedwig to do so, you know."

I would have agreed with Hermione, I would have apologized in that moment to Daniel who was being treated by a concerned Ginny Weasley at the moment, I would have scoffed at the irritated look on Sophia's face, but all I could do at the moment was run.

I shouted a 'I need to talk to Hedwig' before I was running in the chilly November air.

The warm paper in my robes told me all I needed to know. The final ingredients had been gathered, the shadow Phoenix had found its moment to rise from its own white ashes.

We must wake up now, while the blood is fresh.

 _ **A/N: Please Review and let me know your thoughts.**_


	7. The Rituals

**There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.**

 **A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.**

There were two piles. Two piles of ingredients that were meant to signify the birth of the Phoenix that lives in the shadows. On top of one pile of ingredients sat a vial with 7 drops of Daniels' blood in it.

I had run away, literally, from the meeting at Hogshead. By the time I had arrived, Dobby had arranged the piles into the proper order and collected the blood from Hedwig's talons into a vial. Dobby had started becoming even faster than before. Though it had been only two days, he had started practicing the exercises mentioned in the Japanese to English translated notes that I had given him.

He had no hand signs down yet, but his control was slightly better. Trevor sat there with a happy grin on his face literally bouncing on his heels. He definitely had done good work in collecting these ingredients. I knew just the thing to give him after a bit more of research.

I took a deep long breath, gathering myself before starting the rituals. We decided to conduct the ritual of Godspeed first.

I willed the room to take on a pure white look, with every inch of the floor covered in shining white marble. I drew the ritual circle, more like a hexagon, and the markings on the ground with the blood of a dead pig. The corners of the hexagon were to be covered by 3 precious metals on each corner, in the shape of a triangle.

So, it was a complicated looking hexagon with triangles at each of its six tips, which were adorned by rare metals. Inside the triangles formed by these metals several additional ingredients were placed. I asked Hedwig to place herself in the center of the hexagon so that I can begin with the ritual.

I took out my wand and started chanting the wordings of the ritual in ancient Mesopotamian. This language was that of times even before Mesopotamia, so that is why while I did understand the phonetics of the script in which it was written, since it was the same as that of Mesopotamians, I did not understand the meaning behind the chant.

The ritual circle started to glow in a greenish hue. As the chanting went on the greenish hue kept on becoming stronger. Suddenly, there was a blank space in the chanting manual and after that space written in bold letters was _'OOLU'_.

Not wanting to interrupt the flow of the ritual, I took that blank space as a pause for a second and then loudly exclaimed the words 'OOLU'.

As soon as I said 'OOLU' the two diagonally opposite triangles on the top left and bottom right ejected something like wind tunnels towards the center where Hedwig was. Hedwig seemed to get caught in some sort of sphere of wind which was extending to the two edges of the ritual hexagon.

Seeing that Hedwig did not seem to be in any kind of pain, I continued with the chanting. Two minutes into the chanting and the word came up again.

I again shouted 'OOLU' and this time fire shot out of the two triangles that were on the top right and the bottom left. This fire laser or whatever thingy made a perfect 'X' with the air tunnel covering Hedwig in a fire-air sphere combo thingy.

If not anything else, this ritual is at least flashy.

I continued with the chanting and came up with the last set of chants. The chanting headed towards a high Crescendo where it ended in one last verbal exclamation of the word 'OOLU'.

As soon as I shouted out that last OOLU, the remaining two triangles on the tips were joined in a flash by bolts of lightning with Hedwig in the middle. Covered in fire-air-lightning spherical badass looking combo ball, Hedwig seemed perfectly calm.

Immediately the elements and the ritual ingredients and everything concerning the ritual started to coalesce towards the center, like Hedwig was a planet who was pulling everything inside of him. Everything converged into a big black ball of darkness.

Then suddenly, there was a flash of light just for a second, a golden Hedwig with her wings spread for an even smaller fraction of time and then everything was back to normal.

The room was pure white again, with a somehow even whiter Hedwig standing calmly in the middle. Everyone was gob smacked by what they had just witnessed.

"Hedwig?" I cautiously questioned.

She disappeared. As soon as I called out her name, there was like a gentle breeze and Hedwig was gone, Disappeared into thin ai-

"Hoot."

I nearly died from shock when Hedwig hooted from behind me. I could not detect for a fucking single second that she had moved. It was crazy!

The ritual had worked and we all started cheering like crazy. Hedwig made rounds of the room, hooting and disappearing at will. Dobby and Trevor were jumping up and down, while I was ecstatic myself.

"All right Hedwig, stop wasting your seconds." Hedwig did one last vanishing act before sweeping down and settling herself on my shoulders.

"All right everyone, please give a loud round of applause for the first official success of the Shadow Phoenix."

Everybody cheered one more time ecstatic from our high. "But!"

Everybody quieted down at this, "But, we still have one more ritual to go."

As I said this I went over and picked up Daniel's blood from the pile of ingredients. "This shall be our key to the defeat of Voldemort."

"I have been very secretive regarding the details of this ritual, and I am truly sorry for that." This ritual held such great potential, that I could not help be wary of even a simple slip by anyone.

"This ritual, which was born out of the idea of the Universal Radius, is a three stage ritual. Every stage will give us a better understanding of our enemy and increasing influence over their psyche."

"It is not some omnipotent ritual which will give us _Imperio_ level control over our enemies. Nevertheless, it _is_ a trump card which works on simple hints and suggestions based on manipulating key words and feelings." I took out an ashen looking parchment from the pile of ingredients, it was parchment created out of the bark of a dying Yggdrasil.

The parchment was extremely long, folded into a circular roll. I took out my wand and spoke some spells. The parchment's entire material rearranged itself into an ashen looking notebook. "I believe a notebook is going to be better for what we are going to be attempting here."

"This notebook…" I paused for dramatic effect, "is going to contain the name of the entire force behind Voldemort."

Wait for it.

"Every single one."

Dobby had a question it seemed, "But Master Harry Potter sir, nobody knowing who all in Voldemort's army sir."

"Excellent question Dobby, and that is exactly what the first stage of the ritual is for. The first stage of the ritual is designed to list _every one_ of Voldemort's followers name inside the Shadow diary in my hand." Shadow diary's the cool name I have given to the notebook.

"Now you may all wonder, how exactly are we going to accomplish that?" They all nodded.

"It's simple; by judging their feelings." That threw everyone for a loop. I knew this was going to confuse everyone, so I told them to get on with the ritual, as "I will explain the details, while conducting the ritual."

This time the shape of the ritual circle was a spiral, with the center of the spiral being a snake head. I drew the coiling snake on the ground with the pig blood again. I don't know how many times I had to control my urge to vomit, but I just put a clipper on my nose and persevered.

I completed the drawings on the ground and double checked them again. It certainly looked like a snake, but a coiled snake with very fancy tattoos all over its body.

The ingredients also had to be placed in conjunction with the tattoos, and not just as random piles on top of the snake's body.

Say, if you had purple grass and you had to place it on top of a symbol that resembles a cat. Then the finished work would look like an artistic looking cat crafted from purple grass, tattooed on a giant ass snake.

Doing this took time. A lot of time, as a person with common sense can imagine. It was 4 hours into the job that it was finally done.

I wiped my brow from the sweat that had coalesced there and willed a chair to appear in the room so I could rest for a second.

I sat down on the chair with a sigh of relief as I gathered my bearings.

I looked around and saw that Hedwig and Trevor had dozed off probably bored with nothing much to do and Dobby was obviously awake since he had been helping me setup the ingredients.

"Tired Dobby? Why don't you also sit down?"

Dobby just shook his head, "Dobby just nervous Master Harry Potter Sir, Dobby want it over quickly"

"True that."

I also wanted this quickly over, "'kay Dobby go and wake the others. Let's begin."

I went and retrieved the Vial of blood, which was going to be the trigger of the ritual and floated it in the air just above the Snake's Head, the center of the circle.

Soon I was joined by the rest of the SP and we all stood at the edge of the circle. Dobby had the Shadow's diary in his hands which now sported a miniature version of the snake on its front cover.

It was time for an explanation, "As soon as I drop these seven drops of blood on the mouth of the snake, the snake will transmit sub-conscious triggers regarding the owner of the blood throughout the entire world."

"The owner of the blood in this case will be Voldemort, _and not Daniel,_ because of the filters placed in the ritual to exclude Daniel, the snake shape of the ritual circle being a very basic example of it."

Everybody nodded their heads a little, getting the gist of it.

"So every person's sub-conscious in the world will receive a message which, if I may put it in a layman's term would say 'Voldemort'."

"As soon as the word 'Voldemort' registers in everybody's conscious, a feeling will be evoked in each one of them."

Dramatic pause.

"Every person will have a different feeling, but the Shadow diary is meant to capture the name of the individuals with two particular set of feelings."

I have thought an infinite number of times on this, and I am sure this is the correct path.

"The feelings of loyalty and Hate."

Everybody looked extremely contemplative at this, even Dobby was frowning.

"The Majority of the book is going to be filled with the names of the people who reciprocate to the trigger with the feeling of Loyalty. I have thought extremely hard on the specifics of the ritual, and the ways of interpretation of the term 'loyalty'; and I am a convinced that the name of the entire Death eater force, or those who have been _officially_ recruited, or those who _really want_ to be a part of his team will appear on the notebook. Nobody more; nobody less."

"Take the example of Peter Pettigrew. Peter Pettigrew serves Voldemort for the sole reason of fear, so one may argue that it is fear not loyalty which keeps him bound; but one forgets that Magic recognizes loyalty born out of fear as loyalty. It does not matter what the reason is."

I am getting into the explanation now. "One may also argue that it may include impressionable minds of young children who have no understanding of the world yet. Though the list will include wannabe Death Eaters, it will be only _really wannabe a Death Eater_ gang and nobody else, since adoration and Loyalty have the key difference of obeying. Those who magic believes to be the obeying kind are on the list."

I take a deep breath to continue, "The last few pages of the book will be filled with people who fall in the category of 'hate'. Now listen carefully!" I raised my finger at this.

"As you may believe, Hate will not encompass the Order of the phoenix or Daniel or whoever you might be thinking of in your mind."

This confused Hedwig and the others.

"You see their feelings can be summarized to rebellion or even intense dislike. But Hate; Hate is the literary opposite of the word 'Love'. If you hate someone that means you base your entire existence around the destruction of that person. Your every action is meant to bring his end."

"If Voldemort were to die at the hands of Daniel tomorrow, the majority of the world will celebrate."

But.

"But… there will be a few individuals who will hold a piece of regret in their hearts that they could not personally rip Voldemort to shreds."

There was absolute silence as my statement sunk in. "I want to know who these people are."

"That covers about the first step of the ritual. As the ritual progresses you'll get to know the rest as well."

Nobody made a sound as the vial started tipping towards the snake mouth in order for the ritual to commence.

1..2..3..4..5..6.. and the last drop of blood..7.

A reddish glow started to spread from the mouth of the snake towards its outer body. Soon, the entire snake was glowing Red.

Suddenly there was a huge pulse that emanated from the Ritual circle. That was the trigger.

I did not feel any sort of interference with my mind. Good, that's how it is supposed to be. People are not meant to know they are a part of this.

Meanwhile there was another pulse, and another, and another…

The pulses started radiating from the circle at an interval of 5 seconds. We waited for 5 minutes before the first pulse returned to the circle.

Immediately as the pulse returned there was a glow from the Shadow diary. Our first batch of names had appeared.

The first batch was pretty mixed, with a few well known ones like Bellatrix Lestrange and Avery mixed in. Before we could read further the pulses started returning one after another, making the list grow by the minute.

After 5 more minutes of this radar magic show, we finally had a complete list; and GOD it felt Glorious.

Here in our hands rested the entirety of Voldemort's forces' record. Every single fucking one of them.

But, it was not over yet. The circle now started sending pulses at an even faster rate, 2 pulses about every second.

I decided to explain to my confused audience. "This is the second stage of the ritual. The snake is now sending the name of each person in the loyalty section to each person in the loyalty section."

So, basically we are testing out every person's feeling towards every other person. The question clearly etched on each of their faces was. 'What is this going to achieve?'

"As you may know, these people work in groups, in circles. Everyone is not a death eater per se; there are bugs in the ministry, there is an inner circle, there is an outer circle, there are the wannabe's. So, what we are going to be doing here is organizing this huge random list of people."

"Magic is going to test them on their feeling of familiarity, camaraderie, proximity, animosity and other such things to form an evaluation."

Holding true to that the list started arranging itself in an extremely fast manner. It would shuffle and then reshuffle, and finally after 2 minutes it settled on its final answer. The same happened on the list of 'hate' but it only took a few seconds.

Finally the circle, or the snake should I say, took on a blue-green color and closed its eyes as if going to sleep.

"That is the beginning of the third stage of the ritual. It will open its eyes for the final stage when I need it to, but the final stage is useless to us for now, so let it sleep."

Saying that, we finally came to the end of this long day. I heaved a tired but proud sigh as I raised the Shadow Diary to my eye level.

"Members of the Shadow Phoenix, Rejoice, for we now have made our first step in this war against a madman."

Everybody cheered extremely loudly at this, me included.

"From tomorrow onwards, the real war shall begin."

Saying that we all nodded our heads seriously, and Dobby saw this as an opportunity to bring something to eat for everyone.

"All right everyone, DIG IN!"

Tables and chairs appeared in the room and all of us began to eat. Well…

I tried to eat human food while the rest just spoiled my appetite by showing their preferences in appetite.

"No thank you Trevor, I don't think I prefer houseflies to treacle tart."

Ugh…

Deciding to eat later, I opened the shadow diary and flipped towards the section which listed the people who hated Voldemort. I was randomly glossing over when…

The diary fell out of my hands; as a name caught my attention.

Luna Lovegood.

I certainly did not expect her to be here.

 _ **A/N: Please Review. It gives me the motivation to right, and more followers ;-)**_

 **Let me know if you want something to happen in the story or Romance.** __


	8. The Common Room Drama

**There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.**

 **A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.**

The rituals had ended and everybody had eventually left. Hedwig had disappeared in one last vanishing act for the day, while Dobby popped away with Trevor. I lugged my tired ass with great difficulty towards the Gryffindor tower. The Gryffindor tower was occupied, by the 'gang'.

Everybody noticed me entering through the portrait and stopped talking, as Hermione came rushing forward, "Harry, where _were_ you? I've bee- I mean, we all have been so worried."

Rosaline came nodding at this, "Yeah, we searched everywhere." Then she looked at the haggard appearance of my clothes. "You haven't been causing trouble again, have you?"

Oh for god's sake, I haven't been causing trouble agai-, "Hey! What do you mean by _again?_ "

I mean really, at least my sister should put some trust in me; it's not like I was preparing for a war or anything.

Oh wait, I was.

Meh, whatever, It's not as if she knows.

As Rosy I got into a back and forth about how many times I have caused trouble, with Hermione obviously siding with Rosy, Daniel decided to cut the chase.

"Harry, just tell us where were you already?"

I took 2 seconds so as to not falter while lying, and mixed it with some truth to make it more convincing, "I was with Hedwig the entire time." That was true after all.

Everybody narrowed their eyes in suspicion at this, but could detect no lie so kept mum.

Sophia however had her own wisdom to impart. "You abandoned everyone for a mere animal?"

Oh… Now she's done it.

I just might have ignored it, but her dissing has given me a good opening on getting permanently out of this 'Daniel Club'.

"Who asked for your opinion again?"

Silence.

Everybody was staring at me in horror. You did not tell _Sophia Granger_ that _her_ opinion is not needed.

Sophia's face turned into a dangerous scowl, but before she could respond her wannabe lover red riding Weasley started swinging his arms, "Oi, watch your mouth 'mate. We're your seniors ya know."

God, could this guy give it a rest already. Seniors?

Pfft.

I may be mediocre, but I'm still leagues ahead of Weasley. Also, the 'senior' argument might have worked from a 7th year, but _him_. I almost want to laugh and puke at the same time.

Before I could respond to Weasley, Sophia butted in, "Back off Weasley." She said while coming in front of me.

"Oh Harry sweetie," I fucking hate being baby talked like that, and I bet she knows it pretty well, "looks like you're now all grown up aren't you?"

Ron tried to force out a laugh at her antics, which pathetically sounded like pigs mating while she kept 'cooing' immaturely. Hermione and Rosy watched nervously not wanting this to escalate further, while Daniel just shook his head wanting me to apologize, while Ginny stood by his side unsure of what to do.

I decided to end this quick so I could have some peace from these idiots, "Now listen you lizard-gorilla hybrid," That sounded _insulting,_ well that's what I was aiming for.

Hermione and Rosy gasped, while Daniel and Weasley both looked like they had eaten a fly. Ginny looked like she really did not want to be here, and I could almost hear the screeching that was about to come from Sophia; but before that could happen I decided to play my final card.

"I can and will very well do whatever I want, as you have no authority over me whatsoever. I will skip classes or attend classes at my own discretion, I will tend to my familiar whenever I feel like the need to and I will join your secret 'clubs' as I see fit when I want to. Can you stop me?"

This was a simple strategy of goading the other person into doing what you want by challenging their authority. I merely had to use the word 'authority' and 'secret club' in the same sentence, and I know Sophia is manipulative enough to pick up on that for petty revenge.

As I predicted, an evil glint entered the eyes of the elder Granger sister. "Oh Harry sweetie, but I can."

God, the baby talk again. Nevertheless we are on the right track now, "In your dreams, bitch."

That was the flipping point for Sophia, "That's it! If this little shit sets foot into a single meeting of ours I'll quit!" She turned towards Daniel, "You get that Daniel. I'm not listening to anything and I'll take a goddamn oath if you don't nod your head fast enough."

The speed at which Daniel nodded his head should have broken his neck logically, but Sophia was probably terrifying to him. Meh, whatever. The plan was officially done and I could finally go and sleep in peace.

"In that case I will have to step back too." Wha-

"No, Hermione!" Good lord, what is she doing? "Are you out of your mind?"

Everybody in the group was shocked at Hermione's declaration though Rosy looked somewhere between amused and proud.

Sophia was the first to recover, and her scowl did not bring me any comfort, "What are you saying Hermione?"

Everyone was soon following with their responses, and the noise was soon a cacophony of questions and comments.

I needed to do something fast, I could not have Hermione missing out on these lessons. These are not just defense lessons; they are a matter of life and death now. I know Dumbledore, dad and the other order members are keeping a close eye on the activities around Daniel.

Hermione is already on a shortlist for the order of the phoenix because of her exceptional talents; this club could very well be the tipping point for her to be taken in. She would be so much safer if she were to join the order, that I could not let this slip out of control.

As Hermione was about to dig herself into an even deeper hole, I inhaled a large amount of air and then shouted, "Stop!"

"Now listen everyone." This had everyone's attention, "If Sophia wants me to stay away from the club, then I would be very glad to. I know Sophia is a much more important resource to your functioning, and I really could care less about it." Hermione decided to disagree

"No Harry you _need_ to attend these lessons, please think ab-"

"And Hermione! You are not going to leave the club or else…"

"Or else what Harry!? What are you going to do huh?"

Hermione was screaming now, and Rosy also looked pretty miffed about the entire situation.

It hurt me immensely to say this but Hermione had to be safe. I put in as much coldness in my voice, as I could possibly with Hermione which was not a lot, "Else, I will cut off all my ties with you Hermione, every single one."

There was pin drop silence. I could tell from Hermione's eyes that she was hurt, and it hurt me to see her like that.

As she opened her mouth to speak something, "Harry ho-" Rosy cut her off, "Wait Hermione. He's lying, or have you forgotten Harry that I'm an empath, a very good one at that."

Shit. I forgot weak assed resolves like this would never work in front of Rosy.

Hermione seemed to calm down on hearing that, but I could not have that. If it were for Hermione, I have to be able to give up everything, even if it means giving up on her.

I felt a stirring within me, and at that moment I raised my wand in front of me, Rosy's eyes widened as she saw the change of emotions in my self,

"I Harry James Potter swear upon my magi-"

Smack. I did not what had happened but my left cheek stung hard. A furious and deeply hurt Hermione stood in front of me. Rosaline was still staring at me in shock, and the rest of the group looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"How could you?" Hermione was looking me in the eyes while asking this, and I never wanted to see the look of betrayal in her eyes ever again. She was hurt and was letting me know. I turned my eyes away, and Hermione just dashed back into her room with Rosaline following. The rest of the people did not know what to say and they all gave lame excuses to get out of the common room's thick atmosphere. Sophia muttering a last 'He'll still not be joining' before leaving.

I had gotten away from joining the youth wing of the order and I stopped Hermione from leaving, more or less. Well I had accomplished what I wanted to for the day, so I should be relieved.

Instead all I felt was the depressing bite of loneliness. In my pursuit of Voldemort, I had seemingly forgotten about this aspect of the shadows.

I sat on a Sofa and kept staring at the fireplace for god knows how long. All that happened in my head was the continuous onslaught of the images and the sounds from this overly long day.

Soon, the images started getting fainter and the sounds dimmer as sleep overtook me.

I did not know for how long was I asleep, but I was soon awakened by a hand shaking my shoulder.

"H-Harry?"

I opened my eyes to see a teary faced Hermione looking at me. Noticing the tears in her eyes I instinctively jumped towards her asking her what was wrong, but as soon as my mind caught up I realized the reason was standing in front of her.

"S-Sorry." I released her hands that I had caught onto in my worry. Even amidst all the Drama it felt so wrong letting her hands go.

She seemed to be in her own thoughts for a second before snapping back to the present.

"Sorry for what?" She had turned her face from me and even her tone seemed extremely hurt.

"For everything." I meant that.

"Oh; so then would the ' _for everything'_ include throwing away your best friend over a silly 'club'!" Now she turned to face me with tears forming in her eyes and her face extremely furious.

"It's not a _silly club_ Hermione. Not for you." I said while looking into her eyes, "You know the 'order' is keeping an eye on you. You could very well have blown the chance to get into the safest organization in this entire 'war', and I could not have had that."

"Then what about you, huh?" Hermione replied with heat, "Don't you think I cared that you should also learn to defend yourself, that you should be recruited in the order too."

"It does not matter." I replied with dismissal.

Hermione was having none of that, "Why the fuck not? Why don't our feelings matter, and your does? Tell me Harry. Tell me."

I was at a loss for what to say.

"I-I don't…" I just ran my hand wildly through my hair, "I don't know! Okay? I'm just worried about you. I don't care about silly clubs because I won't need those silly clubs as much as you will. I have so many people to protect me, at home and in Hogwarts. I am not that big of a target anyway. But you Hermione, is the entire reason people like Voldemort are in this war. They feel threatened by the immense amount of talent you possess. I will live Hermione, please don't worry about that. I want you to learn to defend yourself and become stronger and safer." At this point my breath was almost running out from all that ranting, but I managed to squeeze out one final sentence, "I- I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you 'Mione…"

My voice almost died out at the end, but I'm sure Hermione who was somewhere behind me heard all of it.

There was silence for a few seconds before I felt Hermione hugging me from the back. She rested her head on the back of my shoulder and exhaled a loud breath.

"You're such an idiot Harry."

There was silence again for a few seconds, before she spoke the last time for the night. "I'll do what you say, but just this once."

I nodded my head, and we stood like that for a few seconds before breaking apart and heading to our rooms.

That 'Just this once' was all I needed from Hermione, because after this there will be no Voldemort remaining to fight.

 _ **A/N: Please Review and let me know your thoughts.**_


	9. Strike One

**There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.**

 **A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.**

It had been two weeks since the rituals and the incident in the common room. Sophia had taken to ignoring my existence, which was perfectly fine by me. Daniel looked a little uncomfortable caught between one of his best friends and little brother, while Weasley just obeyed elder Granger like the dog he is.

Rosy and 'Mione were normal for the most part, the only exception being their twice a week meetings for the 'DA' as Daniel had named it.

Dumbledore's Army.

It sounds all right as far as titles go, not as cool as The Shadow Phoenix though. Hey, that rhymed! Maybe I should give poetry a shot. It will be a nice hobby to have along with fighting wars.

I can already see my business card taking shape.

 _ **Harry James Potter (Minister of Magic)**_

 _Dark Lord Slayer, Billionaire and poet._

 _For Details Contact-_

 _Sophia Granger (My underpaid Secretary)_

Heh heh.

It is an interesting thought for sure, but I have currently more important matters to deal with.

Two weeks ago while going through the Shadow Diary I had found an interesting name in Voldemort's followers.

Gallick Bronston.

The interesting thing about Gallick is, that he is a student right here at Hogwarts. He is a seventh year Slytherin who is a member of the quidditch team as well. Though there are other students as well whose names I do recognize on the list, Gallick stands out because of the fact that I am pretty sure that he is a 'marked' death eater.

I can tell this primarily because the diary has not arranged his name with the group of wannabe death eaters in Hogwarts, but with a group of 11 other names I do not recognize and the one name I do, Avery.

If he is associating and meeting up with the circle of Avery, then he is most certainly in close circles of Voldemort and therefore it can be safe to assume that he is a Death Eater.

Even if he is not, we still have someone who meets up with Avery on a periodic basis. That is an advantage in itself.

This group of 13 people is probably the squad assigned to Avery. Most of them only show up in this one squad and it can be therefore assumed that they are mid to low ranked death eaters. Avery is shown in various circles or groups in the diary, including the group which I believe is the 'inner circle' of Voldemort.

There are two more people in this group who are of some significance. The first is the man named Ballick Bronston, who as any idiot could guess is Gallick's father and the reason for Gallick's presence in the group.

Ballick Bronston is a high ranked death eater, not a member of the inner circle but a high ranked death eater nonetheless. He is an influential businessman, with a large number of shops in Hogsmeade. Bronston Sr. has no other children and his only son seems to have taken the brunt of his terrible naming sense.

The second person is Sozelle Dartini.

Sozelle Dartini is important because of his presence in one very important group, namely 'The Ministry 21'.

The ministry 21 is the name of the 21 death eaters planted in the ministry, led by Lucius Malfoy and Walden MacNair.

If I am putting this together correctly, I will have the three of them in my hands and at my mercy. Gallick Bronston will lead me to Avery, Sozelle, Bronston Sr. and 9 other murderous fiends planning to rape and kill in the future.

I had assigned Hedwig to track Gallick Bronston every time he left the castle on the weekends. Today was the second Sunday and Hedwig was to come back from tracking Gallick anytime soon. Immediately, Dobby popped in with Hedwig, as Trevor and I were already sitting in the Room of Requirements.

Hedwig flew over to the center of the room and closed her eyes to concentrate. All the furniture in the room disappeared, and the floor of the room took the shape of a large map, which looked like something you would use in war situations.

A Clock appeared in the air which showed the time to be 9 A.M. The time Hedwig had flown to Hogsmeade. From the Previous weekend's worth of Tracking we knew Gallick went to Hogsmeade and visited a privately owned establishment, most probably his father's. This Sunday's task was to track all the possible movements of the Death Eaters in Hogsmeade.

Very soon the clock began to move, as if Time had been hit by a fast forward button. At 9.10 A.M a single name appeared on a spot behind the shrieking shack, that of Bronston Sr. as he was shown walking towards the three broomsticks where another name joined his on the map, that of his son Gallick Bronston.

It was a ritual for the father and son to meet at the three broomsticks before the meeting with the death eaters. It was probably the father giving his son 'death eater' tips to help him rise in the ranks and putting on a display for the public at the pub so that nobody will suspect Gallick too much.

At 9.30 the father and Son are shown to move towards a privately owned building a good distance away from the main village of Hogsmeade.

It takes them about 5 minutes to reach the building. It is 9.35 A.M now.

At 9.40 A.M on the clock, 4 names appeared behind the shrieking shack again. Sozelle had apparated with 3 of the death eaters in tow, and continued to move towards the building occupied by the Bronston's keeping their presence to the outskirts of Hogsmeade.

At 9.50 another 4 of these people appeared and followed a slightly different route towards the same place.

At 10 A.M the final 3 death eaters appeared including Avery.

These 3 also took a different route and headed towards the meeting place.

At 10.05 A.M all the death eaters had gathered in the Bronston Safe house. The names were all congregated on that one spot for a full two minutes which was 2 hours on the clock conjured by Hedwig.

At 12.10 P.M Avery's group was the first to leave, followed by the 4 death eaters 10 minutes later and Sozelle's group 10 minutes after that.

The father and Son stay for another half an hour before they also leave for their respective destinations. That was 1'o clock in the afternoon.

The map vanished from the floor and the clock melted away into the air as Hedwig opened her eyes. This was the labor of 4 days of spying on the part of Hedwig, who had accumulated all she had gathered in these 4 days in this one brief narrative, and had told us all there was to know about death eater activity in Hogsmeade.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"First of all, please let us applaud Hedwig for a job well done."

Everybody voiced their approval to Hedwig's work loudly as poor Hedwig shuffled around in both embarrassment and pride.

"Ehrm-ehrm." I cleared my throat to address the matter at hand.

"I believe that Hedwig's visualization of the Scenario is pretty clear in itself. The death eaters move at intervals of ten minutes with Avery being the one to arrive last and leave first. The activities of the Bronston's are a little different, considering they are alone together for 30 minutes both before and after the meeting."

"The maximum no. of people in an apparating group is 4 and the minimum is 1 when Bronston Sr. comes. It will be foolish to ambush them when they are all together as it will reduce our chances drastically as we have only another week to prepare."

I frowned as I remembered the exact conditions that have to be achieved on this mission.

"Everybody please also note that, we need to meet four conditions while accomplishing this task. The first is the capture of Avery, we need him alive."

"The second is the surrendered wand and 18 drops of blood of a dead Bronston Sr."

I took a breath for the this part, "Third, we need the front page of the following day's prophet to show the dead bodies of 10 death eaters with the dark mark visible on their arms including Sozelle and excluding Gallick."

"Lastly, all of this must happen without Gallick knowing anything."

I had my reasons for all of these, and it would become known very soon.

"Now for the plan…" With that began the preparations for the first strike against Voldemort.

In the preparations for the plan the week passed by as if a blur. It was 8 A.M on Saturday and I was hardly picking at my breakfast as my nerves were a mess.

Hermione noticing this asked me, "Something wrong Harry?"

"Huh? Oh. No… it's just I didn't sleep too well last night."

She patted my hand over the table, "'tis allright. The trip to Hogsmeade will make you feel better."

"Yeah, 'bout Hogsmeade… I guess I'll skip for today."

Hermione seemed really down about this, "Are you sure? It won't be the same without you." As if catching onto something embarrassing , she quickly changed the topic, "I-I mean maybe some air will do you good."

I smiled at her, telling her not to worry while she just turned her face around covering it with her hair. Why does she do that? Her face is so pretty. I wish this Voldy trouble was never there so I could just steal glances at her all day long.

I snap out of my dreams when I notice Gallick entering the dining Hall. Gallick sits on his usual seat at the far end of the Slytherin table. I keep a discreet eye on Gallick as he pours himself some pumpkin juice. He brings the goblet to his lips and downs it all in one gulp.

Success.

Gallick notices something is wrong with him when he tries to grab a spoon, but a wing touches the cutlery instead.

The entire great hall is laughing as the now Ostrich turned Gallick tries to say something but all that comes out is 'I love big bananas.' in the voice of a horny Severus Snape.

Snape is steaming from the ears as I try my best not to laugh at my own brilliance. Madam Pomfrey soon comes through the crowd to stun and float Gallick to the infirmary. The rare plants brought by Trevor will make it sure that even Snape will take a few hours to figure out the exact antidote and another few hours to brew it.

As Gallick is lead out of the great Hall I tick Objective 4 accomplished in my mental list. Gallick has been effectively taken out from ever witnessing any of the events.

I excuse myself from 'Mione and Rosy and head towards the 7th floor. Dobby is already there waiting with Trevor and Hedwig.

"Good job switching the juice Dobby. Gallick is out for good."

"Dobby happy to help Master Harry." Dobby says with utmost sincerity.

"All right do we have everything?" Dobby nods and holds up a big bag with the items we have prepared for today.

Good. I nod my head and we all grab onto Dobby so that he may transport us to our location. Earlier it may have been difficult for Dobby, but now Dobby just joins his hand and intertwines his fingers as if praying and *pop* we find ourselves standing behind the shrieking shack, where Bronston Sr. will apparate in 30 minutes. The first thing we do as soon as we arrive there is to apply silencing charms all around the area. We don't want to scare the kids now, do we?

As the clock approaches 9 A.M we start laying out the trap for Bronston Sr.

But before we begin we all change into the uniform of The Shadow Phoenix. Dobby and I put a full robe and hood set which is purely white with the exception of a black phoenix emblazoned on our backs. Hedwig, who is already white, turns just the feathers on her back into a black colored phoenix too. Trevor in a bold fashion statement, has decided to wear an extremely miniature tattoo of a black phoenix on top of his long tongue. I have heard about tongue piercing but this is new.

First come the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards that will be activated as soon as Bronston pops in. The ward stones are meant to cover an area of 400 meter square, taking into account his usual spot of apparating. Dobby will be activating them.

The second the wards are up Trevor who will be lying in wait will prick Bronston with a needle coated with Chimera blood. The chimera blood will cause extreme confusion and fear in the mind of Bronston within 6 seconds of taking seed.

The rest will depend on me and Hedwig.

Hedwig and I hide in the shadows as we wait for the death eater. At precisely 9.10 A.M there is a crack and Bronston Sr. apparates just a few inches away, from where Trevor is on the ground. Perfect; nobody will notice a toad even if they are expecting to run into an enemy.

As soon the crack is heard Dobby raises the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards. No sooner than when Bronston Sr. notices the wards going up has Trevor pricked him on the ankle with the needle. Bronston Sr. flinches and kicks hardly on the ground, but only manages to hit dirt. As He takes out his wand and starts cursing in random directions, but this agitation to his body only increases the rate of the spreading of the poison.

Seeing him vulnerable and disoriented I jump from behind the bushes, where I instantly raise my wand and shout out 'Stupefy'.

Bronston is unable to retaliate because of his mental state and just slumps to the ground. I get behind Bronston Sr. and hold a newly bought dagger to his neck. I nod towards Dobby who points his finger towards Bronston Sr. and wakes him up. Bronston opens his eyes and as soon as he does I grab him by the hair and pull the dagger on his neck.

"Listen carefully, Bronston. Surrender your wand and we will let you walk away alive Understood?"

Bronston tries to turn back to look who is speaking but I keep the dagger firm and let him know not to delay. The chimera blood is still working and so his fear gets the better of him.

"All Right! I-I I'll d-do what y-you are saying. Here." He lowers his wand on the ground, "I surrender my wand." There is a glow from the wand reaffirming his statement.

"Now let me go, please…" He sounds scared and desperate and there is fear in his words. I almost let him go, but that's not the plan.

The plan is to not let this raping, torturing murdering bastard see another second of life. I am supposed to end his wretched existence here and now, but…

My hands are failing me…

They refuse to take a life. It is very easy to picture taking a life to end these bastards, but the reality is extremely difficult.

Suddenly Bronston Sr. tries to make a move, maybe it is on seeing my hesitation or maybe it is out of sheer panic. I will never know, because as soon as Bronston tries to struggle free; an image of Hermione, Rosy and my Mum flashes through my eyes making me remember why I am doing this in the first place.

I don't know what happened next, one second I was holding a dagger to Bronston's neck and another second I was staring at his lifeless corpse on the ground, with blood leaking out of his neck.

I had killed Ballick Bronston.

It was a chilling realization that I had taken a life. I ran to the bushes and emptied whatever little breakfast I had eaten. I continued to heave as the reality continued to punch me in the gut.

Everybody was gathered around me with comforting faces, but I could see they were in shock of the death as well.

When I regained my senses it was 9.30 A.M. Only 10 minutes before the next batch of the death eaters that were due to arrive. We did not have time. We could not go back after coming this far. I got up with shaking legs and walked over to Bronston Sr.'s body. I took out a vial and collected his blood that we needed.

"Dobby clean up this place and Dump his body behind the bushes for now. Hurry, we don't have time."

I went and took down the wards so that the next group could come in. Next I took out a piece of hair from Bronston's body which Dobby had left behind the bushes and put it into the polyjuice which I ordered over the week. It took me 2 minutes to change into his clothes and after casting a scourgify to clean my clothes of the blood, I went and laid down on the ground near the apparating point.

Dobby took his position near the ward stones and Hedwig hid in a tree. Trevor was on the ground near me waiting with his needle.

Sozelle and his group appeared at exactly 9.40 A.M. They spotted me lying on the ground motionless and assumed it was Bronston Sr.

Sozelle came rushing forward in the lead of the group. I Flicked a stupefy at Sozelle as fast as possible and he was caught by it just because of the sheer confusion at that one moment. In that exact one moment as Sozelle was being hit with the spell, the wards went up. This was not all as one of the man was pricked on the ankle again by Trevor and another one had his throat sliced in that very instant by Hedwig.

My being polyjuiced as Ballick was just to create this one moment of confusion where Sozelle and two his lackeys were taken off guard and the third one was stunned by the turn of events. As soon as Sozelle and the man cut by Hedwig's steel wings were down the remaining two death eaters fired at me. I could only put up a shield because this was just what I had expected that the two remaining enemies will do.

As their spells hit my shield, Dobby jumped dressed in his hood from behind the bushes and fired a cutting curse at the neck of the man who was not poisoned.

Seeing his last ally going down, the man already injected with the Chimera blood began to panic more as he threw caution to the wind and began running. He had barely taken two steps when he fell to the ground, his neck slit and Hedwig landing a few feet away from his dying body.

Sozelle was lying stupefied on the ground while two of the death eaters lay dead by Hedwig's wings and the last killed by Dobby. All of this had taken place in 15 mere seconds.

I was feeling nothing now, just driven by the need to complete the mission. My voice was as dead as my heart at the moment.

"Dobby dump the dead bodies behind the bushes. My polyjuice will work for 40 more minutes. The jobs will be finished by then."

The same strategy was to be used on the next group too, but with an extra helper this time. I turned to the frozen Sozelle.

I raise my wand, "Imperio."

At 9.50 A.M the next group arrives to find a concerned looking Sozelle standing over a seemingly unconscious Ballick Bronston.

These 4 low tier death eaters are dead even before the wards can go up. Under the combined attack of an imperioused Sozelle, an alert Hedwig and a polyjuiced me, three of the death eaters fell in the first strike. The 4th death eater had only time to raise a weak shield before a combined cutting curse from Sozelle and I nearly beheaded him.

Dobby had to lower the wards as soon as he had raised them.

"Dobby dump these 4 losers too."

Dobby went and added the bodies to the growing pile of dead bodies. He immediately came back to clean the grass of the blood as Sozelle looked on with a vacant kind of look.

Hedwig and Trevor took their positions ready for the next strike. Sozelle and I assumed our previous positions while Dobby got ready near the wards.

This time the plan was a bit different taking Avery's skills into account.

As the clock struck 10 Avery and his two lackeys came into view. Avery was suspicious the moment he saw Sozelle standing over Bronston Sr.

But even Avery could not have predicted a toad stinging him on the ankle with a poisoned needle. As soon as the needle struck Sozelle and I struck down the two lackeys at Avery's side and Dobby raised the wards. We could have attacked Avery first, but seeing as his shield was up the moment after the needle struck was an indicator of his reflexes.

Avery was standing with his shield raised as Sozelle and I faced him.

"What's the meaning of this Bronston?" Avery's voice was like rough leather grinding against your palm.

Also it was natural he would doubt me, as he must have noticed the glazed look in Sozelle's eyes. I thought of a good reply that someone like Bronston would come up with, "Power politics, that's all."

As Avery was about to reply Sozelle and I started firing curses at him, but he managed to hold us both back. What he did not see coming was the air in front of him suddenly materializing into an owl and said owl's talons plucking out his eyes.

Avery screamed in pain as two stupefy's hit him head on.

Avery slumped to the ground, his body still quivering. I turned to Sozelle and finished him too with a cutting curse.

It was finally over. We had successfully killed 11 of the 13 members of the group and captured one. Still we had to get out of here fast and put an end to the mission.

"Dobby, stop Avery's bleeding and bind him nicely. Hedwig and Trevor help me with cleaning this place up." We cleaned all evidence of us being here and put our equipment in our bag. The dead bodies were placed in a single file behind the bushes.

Avery was bound and gagged with Hedwig keeping guard. "Dobby I want you to incinerate the body of Bronston Sr. with me"

"We have to burn it to ashes"

We separated the body of Bronston from the rest of the bodies and burned it completely.

Next we tore all the sleeves of the death eaters revealing their dark marks. We bound all the 10 bodies together with a single rope and then I charmed the rope to portkey the bodies to the center of Hogsmeade.

The portkey was timed to go off in 2 hours. We put strong notice me not charms around the bodies so as to make sure nobody accidentally tumbles across them.

"Dobby take us to the room of requirements now."

Dobby, Hedwig, Trevor, Avery and I popped back into the room of requirements which was wished back to the room where we had conducted the 2 rituals. The snake ritual circle was still sleeping on the ground waiting for the third phase of the ritual.

I asked Dobby to place Avery on the middle of the circle, right on top of the Snake's mouth. I took out the Shadow Diary and spoke the three words required for the final stage of the ritual.

"Taumm aa iyaag"

The snake opened its eyes and Avery began struggling against his bindings as he started to disintegrate into nothingness.

The snake's mouth seemed like a black hole which consumed Avery within seconds.

The Shadow Diary glowed once and it opened to a page with the title 'Avery'.

"Master Harry?" Dobby asked questioningly.

"Nobody remembers somebody by the name of Avery in this entire world anymore. That snake did not eat just Avery. He ate his entire existence. All that remains of Avery is this page with his name in our Diary. This page will answer any question as far as Avery could have known it. It is in a sense similar to the diary of T.M Riddle without the whole possessing business."

The snake closed its eyes once again only to open them when the next sacrifice would come.

It was over.

It was all finally over. I had killed ten lunatics today, burned one to a crisp and erased one from existence itself. The remaining member of the group was in the hospital wing unaware about his dead father. I had managed to procure the memories of one of the 'inner circle' death eaters and Voldemort was none the wiser because he did not even remember his loyal servant. Nobody did for that matter.

It was time for being joyous wasn't it? But all I could do was cry at the moment. I don't know when the tears started, but all I can see right now is myself crying and screaming while the rest of the members also shed their own tears.

It is a relief for me somewhere that I did not turn out like the death eaters, who are unaffected from taking a life.

I tell myself again and again that I have to hold on to my sanity for Hermione, Rosy and Mum. I have all the time in the world to go insane, after making sure that Voldemort does not stay alive to bother them anymore.

I feel my tears slowing down.

I check the time.

In ten minutes ten bodies will appear in the middle of Hogsmeade. They will carry a message on a small parchment.

The message on the parchment is short and to the point, but it will shake the magical world. That small white parchment carries three words, along with the name of the writer in another three words.

 _Strike One, Voldemort._

 _-The Shadow Phoenix_

 **A/N: Please Review and let me know your thoughts.**

 **Stay tuned for the next chapter to witness the Magical world's reaction to the attack.**


	10. More Drama

**There are some AU elements so please don't expect everything to match cannon.**

 **A/N: The Characters and the universe all belong to J.K Rowling. Nothing is mine.**

I decided to go to the infirmary and take a sleeping potion from Madam Pomfrey after the bloodbath I had been through. It was only a bit after 12 when I took the potion and it was possible that the bodies had just been discovered.

I did not stay awake long enough to see what happened when the bodies were discovered as my head hit the pillow as soon as the potion was in my system. I slept through the entire day and I slept through the night.

I opened my eyes to see light filtering through the windows. It was morning and time for breakfast. The great hall must already be filled with students eating breakfast.

I got up from my bed and asked Madam Pomfrey if I could leave.

She looked me over once, and gave a nod of approval. I used the toilets and the washroom of the infirmary to freshen up and made my way down to the great hall.

I pushed open the doors for the great hall and what I saw was pandemonium.

Students were huddled over copies of The Daily Prophet and talking in loud voices. There were some children who seemed immensely scared and were crying while being comforted by others. No single student seemed to be on his seat.

If the students were crazy the teachers were on another level. The Minister of Magic had arrived, with Amelia Bones, Lucius Malfoy and Kingsley Shacklebolt. All of them were having a heated argument with Dumbledore and the Staff about something.

Wha-! Even Mum and Dad were here seemingly in conversation with Daniel and Rosaline, while Ron, Sophia, Ginny and Hermione stood on the sidelines and talked amongst themselves.

As I had opened the door it had drawn everyone's attention to me, and the whole hall went silent. As everyone was staring at me I decided to address these poor masses in need of guidance.

"Thou evils shall be forgotten man, who cometh under my guidance. Rise you poor souls and bring me glory…" then as if remembering something, "Oh and my breakfast too, please."

The hall just kept staring at me in incredulity, while Hermione and Mum seemed to be leaking fire from their eyes. Only Rosaline and Dad seemed amused as they were laughing hard.

Dumbledore cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "All right back to business everyone." and like that he went back to arguing with Fudge while the rest of the hall switched back to pandemonium mode. It was comical, in a sense.

Hermione though came rushing forward with Mom in tow.

"Harry, was it necessary to do that?" Hermione.

"Young Man, we'll be having a long talk after this." Mum.

"Where were you yesterday?" Hermione.

"Do you have any idea what's been happening?" Mum.

"Rosy said you were in the infirmary." Hermione. Also, if she knew I was in the infirmary why did she ask me where I was yest-

"Infirmary. Oh my god Honey, are you all right?" Mum. She immediately starts coddling me too; how embarrassing.

"Oh he's all right Mrs. Potter, I checked on him in the evening." Hermione. And more importantly, "Then why did you say Rosy told you I was in the infi-"

"Be quiet Harry." Hermione and Mum double-combo, it's almost lethal.

"Oh and Hermione, there's no need to call me Mrs. Potter." Mum who are you kidding? You're totally at the age of being called a Mrs. Potter now. Heh-heh, Mum and her delusions. "You can already start calling me Mom." WHA-

Hermione went freakishly red when Mom said that. Out of embarrassment I'm sure. As for me I was sure even my toes were blushing.

"Moooommmmm" It was the same tone and same stretch of 'mom' that teenagers have been using for centuries to address their mothers with when embarrassed.

Rosaline and Dad were doubled over with laughter while Sophia had a 'never going to happen' look on her face. Ginny was slightly amused by this while Ron was staring towards the breakfast table. The look on Daniel's face caught me off-guard though, he looked like he eaten something nasty.

The chaos that was present in the hall could never compare to that one silent statement Daniel made next, "Why are you getting so embarrassed Harry? Mom never mentioned which brother, did she?"

Fuck.

…

Holy Fuck.

The insinuation was absolutely clear. It was not even subtle for God's sake. Everybody in the group was shocked into silence. Ginny looked like she was about to cry while Sophia was looking at Hermione with quite some bitterness. Ron's mouth was hanging open while Mum and Dad were clearly in a very bad position.

Hermione just looked awkward.

How do you even reply to something like that?

"James, over here." It was Amelia Bones' call that broke the situation, which otherwise seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. As Madam Bones summoned Dad, Professor McGonagall loudly ordered everyone to take a seat.

I headed to the Gryffindor table with a clearly awkward group of people. Mom went to join Dad at the front of the Great hall.

As everyone was getting seated I glanced at the Daily Prophet. The title of the front page was ' _ **A Dirty Joke?'**_

Did you get my pun? Heh-heh.

I meant to signify the actual title and my thoughts on the title in a single line.

No?

Moving on…

As the title suggests Daily prophet is trying to portray this as some kind of sick of sick joke where innocents were killed and framed as death eaters. What ridiculousness.

The note that I left with the bodies is discussed in detail, and the reference to Voldemort is portrayed as a diversionary tactic. The Shadow Phoenix has been declared a terrorist organization by the government, go figure that, and proclaimed as a group of lunatics.

The usage of the phrase 'strike one' is explained to the ignorant magical population, as a warning by the SP regarding more attacks.

The photograph in the middle shows an auror holding the note over the 10 dead bodies, when suddenly the note transforms into smoke and rises to the sky in the silhouette of a Shadow Phoenix. It was really difficult charming, believe me, but the Shadow Phoenix looming in the sky looks way too cool for any regrets.

The Daily Prophet may have dismissed this as a sick joke, but the ones who need to get the message should get the message. The public is also not entirely convinced by the prophet, as the hotly debating students around me are the proof of that.

Even Hermione is in debate with some 6th year student as to how this is clear proof of a war brewing underneath us. The entire gang for that matter, is united on this point as Sophia, Ginny, Ron, Rosy and even Daniel are getting in debates over how they have been saying this since the previous year.

I see Dumbledore taking the dais. Fudge looks white as a sheet next to him while Lucius Malfoy, unsurprisingly, seems to be in a lot of pain. His master sure did a number on him yesterday. Kingsley looks troubled and deep in thought.

Dumbledore charms his voice and issues a loud silence to get everyone's attention. Once the attention in the hall is turned to him, he starts speaking in a grave voice.

"My fellow guest, teachers and dear students; yesterday no matter the circumstances was a grave day for all of us. All of you may choose to believe your own set of opinions, on the affiliations and the consequences of those killed. Even so, a death is still a loss of human life and a reprehensible act."

Some of the students were even crying at this point, while I just tried to keep the guilt down. I noticed Rosy looking at me with a weird look, but then Dumbledore continued, "We at Hogwarts have assured our cherished Minister, that we will give our utmost support to any help required by the ministry because help will always be given at Hogwarts to those…" who seek it, yeah we know already. He's said this line so many times that even My and Her-, I mean even my unborn children know it by now.

"The staff at Hogwarts has also decided, after a long discussion, to dismiss the term a week early due to the incident taking place in such close proximity to the school." Students would have cheered at this usually but the mood was too pensive for that.

"The Hogwarts express will be leaving tomorrow, as messages have already been sent to your homes regarding your early arrival. Be careful and make sure to enjoy your Holidays."

The students immediately began whispering in excited voices over everything that had happened and what it all meant.

"Harry?" Rosy whispered to me from my side.

"Hmm?"  
"Why were you feeling guilty during Dumbledore's speech?"

Shit. I totally forgot about Rosy.

All right don't panic she'll sense it. I just have to tell her a part of the truth, just try and not lie.

"I just felt as if… as if I am a bad person for not feeling as sad as the others you know." That is true. I have been having questions about my morality since yesterday. "I mean we know that they are death eaters, at least the order does, but then knowing that they are who they are my sympathy is not as much as the other students here, which is bothering me."

Hermione, who seemed to have been listening, grabbed my hand over the table from my other side.

"It's all right Harry, if you feel something like this it only makes you more human. You'll always be the best to me Harry."

"Awww, let his elder sister comfort him a few times too 'Mione." Rosy giggled.

Hermione just blushed and looked away, but did not let go of my hand. I looked at our hands and smiled at her, while she gave a shy smile back.

God, that shy timid smile is killing me. I feel like I could transfigure Dark Lords into rubber ducks for a mere hobby if she keeps smiling at me like that. I'm pretty sure my mouth will break from the smile I must be wearing. God, I must look like a lunatic with my teeth on display.

This moment of Euphoria, is broken though as I spot Daniel's face. It's apoplectic. It's twisted. It's… It's…

… jealous. Even a dumb idiot like me could tell.

I avert my eyes and slowly retract my hand, with Hermione catching on quickly. I hate this teenage drama, that too when there's a war over all of us. I also hate the fact that it is Daniel who is in this position; if it was someone else everything could be so much easier.

As the students and staff begin finishing with their respective meals, Mom and Dad approach us at the table with Fred and George in tow, while Mom begins speaking hurriedly, "All of you; Daniel, Rosy, Harry, Hermione, Sophia, Ron and Ginny are going to come with us today itself. You only have an hour to pack before the portkey leaves from here, the main hall itself. Don't take long with your breakfast and you all must hurry and come back fast. Understood Harry?"

" _Understood Harry_?" I mimicked her back like a child. I know it's immature but was it necessary to single me out? I mean I know I was late for the world cup, but hey "I'm not that late for things."

Hermione just pinched her nose, "Harry you were late by an entire 5 hours. Mrs. Potter had to stay back and use a second portkey because of you."

"That too which he just caught" Mum voiced her agreement.

"Let's not forget…" Rosaline began, which I'm sure would have turned into another analysis of my tardiness by the Devil's trio, but I cut her off.

"I'm going to pack, see ya!" With that I dashed out of the hall leaving three angry females behind.

Also, before packing I had to give some last minute instructions to The Shadow Phoenix for the Christmas breaks.

It will be an interesting few weeks of Holidays for sure.

 _ **A/N: Please Review and let me know your thoughts.**_


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